


God with whiskers

by Moonybird, Origami_Roses



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Brodinsons, Cat Loki (Marvel), Depression, Gen, Loki (Marvel) Lives, Lokitty, Resurrection, cats are assholes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 60,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21534181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonybird/pseuds/Moonybird, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Origami_Roses/pseuds/Origami_Roses
Summary: Loki is in quite the predicament.He is dead! Killed by the great Titan Thanos. Luck though shines upon Loki as he is offered a deal! A new chance at life. Send back to earth as Helas agent to make Thor ready for what is to come.There is just one little problem, to be alive you need a body. And there is no time to grow a human body. So this feline one will just have to do... yay
Comments: 235
Kudos: 599
Collections: Animal Transformations, Wile Away The Time





	1. A deal with the devil

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited by: Origami_Roses

Loki sighed deeply, lazing in his chair with his head propped in his hand, looking at the woman in front of him with a deadpan look.

Really, Loki thought, he should have seen this coming. Nothing ever went right in his life, so why in the All Father's name should anything go right in his death?

Yeah… He was dead, choked to death by the Mad Titan, Thanos. And he had been lucky at that. If Thanos had had the time, no doubt he would have stayed true to his promise to let Loki face a fate worse than death.

Death at first hadn't been too bad, he had been leading his people to Valhalla… Those Hela had killed and those Thanos had killed. They had hailed him as their Prince and willingly let him go in front, guiding all of their souls. But then suddenly Hela had been blocking his way - damn the woman - claiming all the lives she had taken herself would belong to her!

A Prince's duty was to his people, and so a deal had been made… Hela had not killed Loki; he wasn't among the people she counted as belonging to her. A trade was agreed upon - Loki's soul for all the Asgardians she herself had killed.

Hela was delighted; she blamed Loki for her defeat. He was the one who had put Surtur's crown into the Flame of Life… It felt good in the moment, being a true hero rescuing the souls of his people.

But yeah, now he was stuck here for eternity with her… Yay.

Hela was the Goddess of Death. She was also dead… But being a Goddess of Death itself granted her special powers. She was not forced to follow the same rules of death.

Between Loki and Hela was a chess board, they had been playing a couple of games. Surprisingly their skill seemed pretty evenly matched, which was good. Then at least something would be happening at this dreary place where everything was gray and their only company was the tortured souls floating around them.

"Your turn, little brother." Hela murmured.

"We are not related." Loki simply stated moving his piece.

"You _were_ my replacement, Odinson." Hela stated moving her own piece.

"No I wasn't." Loki moved another piece. "Odin never intended for me to have the throne, it was a lie. And ever since my origin was revealed, it is Laufyson apparently." he muttered.

"Yet you had it." Hela stated as she considered her next move. "You were king of Asgard." She moved her bishop into place. "Check."

"Always in _spite_ of Odins wishes, never because of them." Loki moved a rook, removing Hela's bishop, thus destroying the check position. "And people would always claim trickery was involved… Not really unreasonable." he smirked, amused. "Because it was."

"He chose you over me." Hela seethed, moving a pawn.

"He left me to rot." Loki replied grabbing his rook. "He promised me the world, filled my ears with assurances that if I only worked hard enough I would win his favor… But it was never enough. Any task he gave me, I fulfilled to perfection! Any obstacle he would let me face I was willing to take on, all to win his favor… But it was never enough. And it was never going to be." and he slammed down the rook. "Check mate." then he flicked Hela's king over with his finger and looked up.

Hela met Loki's eyes. "It was the golden prince he wanted, wasn't it?" She asked.

"I kind of feel sorry for Thor." Loki admitted. "Only now do I realize, he had no chance to live up to expectations either. It was always an impossible standard to begin with."

Hela laughed. "Oh, you have no idea, baby brother of mine."

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"If you could see him now," Hela shook her head, "wasting away in self pity. It is pathetic."

Loki shuffled slightly in his chair, he didn't feel comfortable about this and yet… He wanted to hear more. Hela never told him about what was happening with the living, and he really wanted to know. If nothing else, it would distract his mind; this eternity in Helheim was boring.

"He cries at night, sobbing like a little child. It's pathetic." Hela snorted.

Loki held back his breath, stopping himself from jumping to Thor's defense. Since when had he become defensive of Thor anyway? There was a time he would have rejoiced in the big oaf's misery. That was then though. Before they had faced such misery together.

"New game?" Hela asked.

Loki shrugged. "Anything else to do?" he asked. "You have not given me any books or anything, one would think you are trying to make my stay miserable on purpose."

Hela smirked slightly amused as she swept the board clean, then started to put the pieces back. "I am unhappy, baby brother." she stated putting up the pieces.

"Geeh, with your bright smile it is so hard to tell." Loki rolled her eyes.

Hela's eyes bored into Loki's with fury and she all but hissed "Don't test me."

"What are you going to do? Steal my soul?" Loki asked sarcastically.

Hela snorted as she placed the pieces. "Asgardians who die dishonestly, they rightfully belong to _me_." she stated.

"And the one single thing I managed to do right was dying an actual honorable death. Yet here I am!" Loki held up his hands.

"Thanos succeeded." Hela informed. "He did the snap."

Loki was quiet… Then he looked down. "I suppose it was rather inevitable." he murmured. "Thor, the HULK and I were all there and yet we..." he halted.

"He took half of what yet remained of Asgard after his slaughter aboard that ship." Hela seethed. "Yet those souls… They have not been sent here, they have not been sent anywhere! They have gone missing!"

"Tough luck I suppose." Loki pouted.

"I want them back!" Hela stated.

"We all want things we can't have." Loki rolled his eyes. "So Thanos did the snap, what do you want to do? Kill him?"

"No need, Thor already has. Thanos is dead." Hela informed.

Loki blinked. "Really?" he asked.

"Too little too late." Hela informed him, still setting up the board, she was clearly fuming.

Loki was quiet, he honestly didn't like what he was hearing. "You say Thor killed Thanos?" he asked.

"Oh yes." Hela smirked. "For once I could see the family resemblance! Decapitation by axe! He would have made a fine executioner indeed."

Loki looked at Hela, his eyes narrowed.

Hela looked up at him, imperious in her anger. "I want my souls back!"

"And how exactly, do you think to do that?" Loki asked.

Hela huffed. "Sadly, I can't enter the realm of the living on my own any more, but… I could send an agent."

Loki lifted an eyebrow.

"Your soul belongs to me Loki, you are to do what I tell you to do. I want you to go to earth." Hela informed.

"Oh." Loki stated. "Deary me, are you letting me go back?" he asked.

"On a condition." Hela informed. "I'll give you life once more, if you promise to get my souls back… Thor is the key. If you fail, I shall have to retrieve you."

"And if I succeed?" Loki asked.

Hela was quiet.

"Come now, you need to give me an incentive here!" Loki stated. "Why would I even bother doing my best?"

"Fine, you may live out your new life to its natural end." Hela stated.

Loki was quiet.

"Or you may stay here and do nothing, while our so-called brother wastes away in self pity."

Lokis hands clenched… Thor…. What was happening to Thor?

Then he looked up. "How is this going to work?" he asked.

Hela smirked. "Your old body has been lost to space, it is now useless. I'm afraid you are going to need a new body."

Loki groaned. "Don't tell me I have to go through all the pain of growing up again?!" he asked.

"Don't worry." Hela smirked. "Your new body will be fully grown in just ten months!"

Loki looked up. "Really?" he asked skeptically.

Hela nodded. "Indeed! Yes, you shall have to be re-born so to speak, but your body will indeed be that of an adult in ten months, you have my promise."

Loki mulled that over for a bit.

"Or you can stay here forever." Hela offered.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Not like I have a choice, you literally own my soul."

Hela grinned, the pieces on their chess board now all in place, she offered Loki a hand. "A deal then."

Loki frowned but accepted the hand. "Fine! A deal. What choice do I even have."

And Hela grinned. "Listen to me Loki. There is one chance, only _one_ to get the souls back! In a year from now exactly the man who talks to ants will re-emerge. Your job is to make Thor ready for that day; he is one of the key players! Right now he is wasting away. _You_ need to make sure he is ready to face the past. One year! Twelve months! That's all you've got! If you fail, the souls will be lost forever. Thor will be lost and _you_ will be taken straight back here."

Loki smirked grimly his hand still tight in Hela's. "Bring it."

* * *

So…. Loki was back on earth, and like Hela had promised. He was newly born, just having escaped his mother. Also he had four legs, a tiny little tail… He was blind at the moment but could use his magic to get a feel… a feel for a body covered in fur. Instead of hands he had paws, the teeth that would soon grow would become fangs…

His new mother was purring and licking him clean with a rough tongue.

A cat… he was a fucking cat…. When Hela had assured him that his new body would be fully grown in only ten months, this was _not_ what he had imagined. He had thought he would get a magically enhanced body or something, but nope! CAT! Bloody… _cat!_

Well at least he was alive, Loki supposed, though he was pathetically weak right now.

Just then a voice shrieked joyfully, a child's voice.

"MOM! Mom they are here! The kittens!"

Loki hissed trying to turn away.

"Look at that one, it's all black!" The child continued, the shrill voice sounded like a little girl's. "It's so cute! Hello! Hello little kitty!" she cried happily - and far too loudly, in his opinion.

Go away! Seriously. This is bad enough already!

"I'm going to call you Mister Mittens! Hey Mister Mittens, welcome to the world!"

…. Okay seriously Hela can go to Hel! Of course she was already there... Hope you're having fun Hela! Because I am going to get you for this! Somehow, someway! You are going to pay!


	2. Rough travel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited by: Origami_Roses

There was one good thing about this… _one!_

At least no one was around to witness Loki's humiliation and no one would have to know about this _ever!_ As he let his new mom give him a bath alongside all his new siblings he couldn't yet see, his body responded to the warmth and relaxed even as his mind rebelled against the situation. Loki couldn't even walk. All he could do was push himself forward and let his nose guide him. Urgh this was the worst! At least he was warm and cared for; he tried to find some shred of comfort in that fact - he would not be in danger as he waited for this pitifully weak body to grow up. Yet he didn't even have time for this, he had to find Thor!

He only had a year and currently Loki had no idea where Thor was. He also had no idea where _he_ was! So yeah, this was the worst. Loki had to find out where he was… Where Thor was... And how to get to Thor! And he was all but helpless!

And, oh yeah, his new mom was called Ms. Fuzzy…. The girl in this house was _awful_ with names, worst of all. The kid had taken a shine to Loki for reasons unknown and yes, she kept calling him Mr. Mittens... and trying to pet him.

NORNS! This sucked! Hurry it up already!

* * *

Finally, Loki's eyes had opened. His vision was still incredible poor, everything was very blurry and it was still hard to move around. Despite the lack of clarity, his vision did reveal to him that his mom was a gray striped cat, and all his siblings were either gray or brown so it was no wonder he stood out, being completely black.

Sometimes the sound of a television would reach him from the next room and Loki would lay down and be absolutely quiet to try and hear the news. From what he could glean from the newscasts and in conversations the humans would have, he was in a country called Spain.

That didn't really help him though, as Loki had no idea about Earth geography. Where was Spain? Was it close to New York? And where was Thor?! Urgh!

Still, he was able to learn while becoming more physically able, so that had to count for something. He swallowed his frustration yet news was on, Loki was laying still, listening.

" _In another story, it has now been four years since our first alien settlers arrived on Earth."_

Loki's ears twitched as he listened to the female news caster.

" _Discussions are still rampant - does Earth truly have room for alien refugees? Why give them priority, as we have failed to even provide for many people already living on Earth. Thor is of course a hero, but has not been seen since the blip. And any Asgardians have yet to leave Norway, where they have settled down in a new village they have named New Asgard."_

Loki lifted his head… Norway. Of course! Where Odin had been. Thor had probably thought it was a sign.

New Asgard!

So… Loki needed to get to Norway… Somehow. He was in Spain. How was he supposed to get to Norway from Spain? As a _cat?!_

Urgh… Hela, is there's a reason you couldn't just have put me _in Norway?!_

There was no response… Of course… Go die in a fire Hela. Seriously.

Okay she had already died in a fire... Then do it again _Hela!_

* * *

Three weeks… It had been three weeks since Loki had been returned to life and _finally_ he was managing to walk.

This wasn't good. Loki only had a year, and the first month was nearly up! While he had learned where the Asgardians had settled, he _still_ had to even find Thor. Loki knew he couldn't waste time, but he also knew he couldn't go very far before he would just collapse in exhaustion. Curse this weak body!

One week, he would give it one more week and he was out of here.

* * *

Four weeks… Loki could not waste any more time. He had to get out of this stupid place! He had a _mission_ , thank you very much!

He had already planned his escape a couple of days ago. There was a window in the kitchen, a window which would always stand slightly open during the night to cool down the house. There were curtains at the window, reaching to the floor. Thankfully none of the other kittens had climbed them yet, so the humans hadn't done something about it… But Loki would. He would climb the curtains, get to the window and jump to his freedom!

Loki went for it, determined to be out and doing. He had a future to prepare for!

The climb was easy; with surprising speed Loki was up on the windowsill, ready to squeeze through the window! YES! Now he just had to…

Loki looked down and suddenly realized he was a tiny kitten with barely any motor skills who could fit into the palm of a grown man's hand. And in that regard… it was a long way down.

….

This would be no issue for a fully grown cat, but he was not fully grown. There was no guarantee he would land on his paws.

'Okay Loki! You wasted enough time, you've got eleven months to sort all of this out. Just… Get down there, jump.' Loki closed his eyes and leapt, plummeting down and landing heavily on the ground like a small sack of peas.

'Urgh… Okay fine. I'm fine. It actually didn't hurt. I'm good! I'm out! ' Loki shook himself and got his bearings; he hardly weighed anything so it wasn't like the fall could damage him that much. Now Loki just… Had to figure out how he could get to Norway. This was going to be so much fun wasn't it?

That was sarcasm by the way, Loki had a difficult time seeing how this could in any way be fun.

* * *

"Jose! Jose! You in there, man?!"

"Ah, sorry." The man blinked as his friend, Carlos, had just been almost shaking him to get his attention.

Carlos shrugged. "What's with you? You were a thousand miles away. It's not like you to space out like that."

"I'm sorry." Jose breathed. "It's just… It really looks like that cat is reading the bus plan!"

Carlos turned his head and blinked as true enough, a small black cat was sitting on the bench looking up at the bus plan on the wall. Carlos shrugged. "It's just a cat, they often just look at nothing. Maybe there's an insect we just can't see."

Just then a bus pulled up and the cat it jumped down and purposely walked to the front of the bus to get a gander at the bus number. Then it nodded to itself in satisfaction and walked back, jumping in just as the door opened.

The two men blinked then looked at each other.

"Did you?" Jose asked.

"Be quiet, Jose. All that weird stuff - that's stuff that happens in America. We don't want to be like America do we?" Carlos asked.

Jose shook his head. "No."

"So don't question it!" Carlos demanded. "We saw nothing!"

"Right." Jose nodded then halted. "I think I also saw that cat reading the newspaper."

"I SAID BE QUIET!"

* * *

It had been a long trail, hitching rides on cars to get to a bus station from where Loki had managed to find a way to France. There Loki had found further transportation in the form of a truck advertising **"Leroy Sea-food! Taste of Norway!"** on the side in big yellow letters over a painting of some fish.

Well! If Loki jumped on this thing surely it would lead him to Norway eventually…. Hopefully. It had taken him to a harbor in Germany, where he sneaked on board a ship, hiding between containers filled with tons of different kind of wares.

It smelled like a Kronan's butt hole down here; why did he have to go through all of this? Why? Why couldn't he just teleport?

Finally… _Finally_ Loki was in Norway. Actual Norway.

Great… Fantastic… Brilliant. Now he just had to find New Asgard.

Finding New Asgard wasn't that easy. Since it was newly founded, any map that was over three years old didn't have it marked! Finally, though, Loki found out New Asgard was located in a sparsely inhabited part of Norway; there were no roads going there, no cars… Only a few ships dealt with the cargos of fish that apparently formed New Asgard's main source of trade. But where Loki could find these ships he didn't know. The safer bet was… To walk. Walk across the highlands and fjords, in his very small not at all fully grown body. Catching mice to eat and the occasional fish. Urgh... _this_ was the worst.

Curse you Hela… Curse you all the way to Niflheim! You love this don't you? Dammit.

* * *

Loki was so tired his entire small body was aching, spots were swimming in front of his vision as he made it across yet another mountainous hill and suddenly, there below him he saw… A village! People! And they were...

You've _got_ to be kidding me!

Wide-eyed, Loki looked down at the small village and all the people going about their business wearing worn out clothes.

Okay, clearly Loki had been taking a wrong turn here! This was _not_ New Asgard! No way! No how!

Well, there might be food, shelter... information. He could at least find out where he was before taking the next leg of this impossible journey. A little further down the path he was following, Loki turned his head as he saw a weather beaten sign... clearly spelling **"New Asgard."**

Oh god dammit… Loki's legs wouldn't hold him any longer and he sat down in shock.

This _was_ it… Loki was going to kill someone. He didn't know who yet, but someone had to die. Thor? Could he kill Thor? Thor sounded like a good target. Well, maybe not for another ten months and two and a half weeks _but after that_ , he was going to kill Thor!

Loki groaned as he stood up once more and started his climb down to the village. Someone better have some decent food down there or Thor wouldn't be the only one murdered almost eleven months from now.


	3. A Painful reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited by: Origami_Roses

Okay… Okay… Loki was here… Loki was in New Asgard. Finally!

Now he just had to find Thor…

Loki shook his head, trying to focus. He was exhausted from both the journey and the shock of finding New Asgard so... diminished. Everything was swimming around him. His eyes were blurring, his body was hurting so much and his stomach was protesting. A lot…

Thor… THOOOR "Meoooooooow." the pathetic sound escaped from Loki and he groaned as he fell to the ground. Urgggh.

"By the Norns!" a female voice suddenly gasped, "IT'S A KITTEN!"

Loki didn't even have it in him to protest as he was suddenly picked up and found himself face to face with a dark skinned woman.

Valkyrie?

"It's so cute!" Valkyrie exclaimed. "Where did you come from little guy?" she asked. "I didn't know anyone around here had cats!"

"Meow." Loki released a pathetic sound.

Valkyrie just seemed to melt right there on the spot. "You're lost?" she asked. "Are you a stray? Well no matter don't you worry. I got you! You hungry?"

"Meoooowww.." Loki groaned.

"Well of course you're hungry!" Valkyrie gasped. "You like fishies? We got tons of fishies little one! I'll get you some fishies."

Oh good, just make sure they are fresh okay? You got some salmon? I could go for that.

Loki allowed himself to be carried off without protest until they reached a small house where Valkyrie stepped in closing the door behind her. Then they entered what looked like a very small living room. It was sparse. There was a fireplace - though there was no fire right now, couch, coffee table, some swords hanging on the walls and… That was it.

Valkyrie proceeded to pick a pillow up from the couch and put it on the floor. She put Loki on the pillow, and stroked his ear with a gentle hand. "Stay."

She really didn't need to tell Loki twice. Loki just yawned as he stretched his poor abused body and then curled together, enjoying the first soft bed he'd had infar too long as Valkyrie walked into what was presuably the kitchen.

Loki could hear sounds coming from the other room and then… a scent of Fish.

It wasn't salmon, unfortunately; cod would have to do, it seemed. Valkyrie soon returned with a small plate she put down in front of Loki. "There you go sweetie." she spoke in a kind voice she would _never_ have used on Loki if she knew who he was.

Loki lifted his head as he inhaled the scent of very fresh fish! Barely bothering to strecth again, he quickly moved off the cushion to start eating.

Valkyrie smiled warmly. "That's a good kitty." she breathed. "Don't worry, you can stay here if you want, as long as you want. The truth is at this place… We are _all_ strays." she sighed deeply as she sat down next to Loki. "How did you get here though?" she asked, softly stroking his back as he gobbled the delicious fish. "We are quite a bit away from the nearest Midgardian town", she admitted, "and you don't seem like a wild cat."

Loki didn't reply, too busy eating.

"You're cute though." Valkyrie smiled amused. "Ms. Meowses the Third!"

Loki paused as he groaned internally. Oh Norns, the naming again.

"Wait, are you a girl or a boy?" Valkyrie asked.

Loki decided to just ignore the question. He shouldn't have though, as the next moment Valkyrie just blatantly picked him up and held him up to have a peek at his lower region.

"Oh look at that, a healthy boy!" Valkyrie grinned.

Loki… was mortified. Was Valkyrie looking at his...? By the All Father, no! He began to struggle in her grasp, ready to scratch the woman as thankfully she put Loki down again.

"Mister Meowses then!" Valkyrie grinned as Loki hunched defensively and hissed. "You're right." she sighed. "It's only going to be funny the first ten times, then it is going to get old. Name is up for debate." she nodded. "For now, I am just going to go with little stray." she smirked.

I am _not_ a stray stupid woman! I am a _god!_ You fool! I am… Oh, Hel, what did it even matter?

Loki turned back to what little was left of his fish when he suddenly remembered what Valkyrie had just said. _Here we are all strays…_ Slowly Loki turned his head and looked up at Valkyrie, now really noticing how she was sitting. Her head was bowed, her shoulders hanging… She looked tired. Loki tentatively moved a few steps nearer to her, then reached up and put a paw on Valkyrie's knee and mewed softly.

I am here. We'll fix things.

Valkyrie looked down then smiled, amused. "What a cutie." she commented putting a finger on Loki's paw and petting him slightly. "You know, I think we could use a cutie like you around."

Loki just looked at her.

"Get some rest little stray." Valkyrie then asked. "I'm afraid I've got some things I need to do." she stood up, brushing herself off, though the floor wasn't that dirty. Loki looked up after her.

But… Where's Thor? He's not in here?

Valkyrie just smiled lightly at him as she walked to the door. "I am going to leave it open." she pointed. "See, you can walk in and out." then she walked out, leaving the door ajar, but not looking back again.

Loki wanted to go after her… But he was overwhelmed by exhaustion. The food didn't help either. It had been so long since his belly had been full.

Thor had to be nearby right? So… He could sleep an hour or two before going looking right? It was fine… he hoped.

* * *

When Loki woke up, the house was still empty… Valkyrie was not back yet, but the doors were open so it didn't matter too much. Loki supposed with only Asgardians here Valkyrie wasn't really worried about robbery.

They were all in this together… Refugees together. Strays.

The sun was still up, so it had to be afternoon or evening; summer days were long here in Norway. Loki stood up and stretched his back. Okay, time to find Thor! He had to be here _somewhere._

Loki exited to a muddy road, and looked around. The few people he saw were all wearing very similar worn out clothes - Midgardian clothes. Were these truly all that remained of Asgard?

Then Loki remembered, they had been so few on the Statesman already. Then Thanos… Thanos would always kill half the survivors before he left... and Hela had said he succeeded with his plan, probably halving what remained of their people after that battle, leaving barely a fourth of those who had managed to escape Asgard. Or fewer.

Could that mean that Thor?! No… Hela had said Thor was around. He was sent here to help Thor. Okay. Breathe. Push back the panic that had briefly threatened to overwhelm him.

Thor, where are you?

Eventually Loki found the harbor and witnessed Asgardians pulling around crates of fish. He recognised a few 'noble warriors' who would never have stooped to basic manual labor before. Very few. Most of the warriors had died fighting Hela with only a scant handful accompanying the refugees in the first place. here were several boats anchored by the docks and people were looking them over making sure they were in good condition.

"Looks good!" Valkyries voice caught his ear and Loki looked to find her standing wearing a heavy woolen blouse to shield her from the harsh ocean wind. "That's it for today! Good work everyone!"

So this is what they did to make a living? Where is Thor? He would help out with this kind of stuff… Loki looked around, but there was no sight of long blond hair gleaming like gold, not a glimmer of that stupidly optimistic grin which would always shine even in the darkest hour. No blue eyes glimmering with hope for the future.

Okay _eye._ Thor only had one eye now, remember! But it had sparkled all the same.

That was Thor for you. That stupid grin and that ever lasting optimism would just never go away. He was shining bright as the light of Asgard.

Sickening really. But right now Loki would give a lot to see it.

Where's my brother?

Hopelessly Loki looked at Valkyrie as she walked his way but didn't see him. He ran up to her and put a paw on her leg. "Meow."

Valkyrie blinked then looked down. "Stray." she smiled warmly, then crouched down to greet him. "I'm glad to see you're doing okay." she murmured, scratching him behind the ear. "Well sweetie, I've got one last thing I need to do, then I am all yours."

Loki looked at Valkyrie… She looked sad. And quite like she was dreading her next task. "I just need to check on him, then I'm all yours sweetie." Valkyrie informed him as she stood up.

Him? Thor? Loki's eyes widened. Was he sick? Hela had said Thor needed help.

Valkyrie started to walk away, towards the city. Loki followed.

They reached the cluster of houses, but Valkyrie kept walking. They passed her house, and soon got to the outskirts of the small city and then… Valkyrie kept walking. Loki blinked as Valkyrie started climging a small path going up the cliffs, and once again Loki followed.

Where were they going? Why were they going away from the people? Thooor... he groaned in frustration. Valkyrie paused as the sound involuntarily left his throat, then she turned around and saw Loki.

"Stray!" she smiled, looking almost happy at seeing him. "You're following me." Loki stopped, and just looked at her. "It's all right, come here, kitty." Valkyrie gestured, waiting for Loki to catch up before continuing up the path. He walked right behind her until finally they reached the top and Loki saw… a small wooden house. Very much like the ones under them.

Huh… So Thor had decided to get a house high above the others?

That was indeed fitting for a king, though Loki had to admit he actually would have imagined Thor being among the people and helping them out in a situation like this.

Well, a king should be above the others. Perhaps it wasn't so bad.

Valkyrie, though, seemed full of dread as she sighed and glanced down at Loki. "I think you better stay out here kitty." she stated.

Pfff, fat chance, lady.

Valkyrie walked to the door and turned the handle, barely getting it open before Loki just zoomed in between her legs.

"KITTY!" Valkyrie shouted.

Don't you dare kitty me! You don't know what I have been through, Valkyrie! I didn't get this far just be kept back by _you!_ THOR! By the All Father, Thor! Tthis better be good!

Loki found himself in what looked like a living room, very similar to Valkyrie's, except this one was a _mess!_ There was trash EVERYWHERE! It was filthy! And it STANK! Food scraps, empty bottles and cans littered every flat surface. Loki picked his way gingerly through the mess. Urgh, what was this?

Then, a loud snore rumbled behind him. It nearly sounded like a bear choking and, annoyed, Loki looked towards the couch only to halt…

You…. You can't be serious. This is a joke right? A horrible _joke!_

Valkyrie walked in behind Loki then sighed deeply. "Thor." she spoke sadly.

Thor? THOR?! No! No you're joking, this is a lie! This disgusting creature, this… this _thing_ is _not_ Thor you stupid woman!

In something resembling horror, all Loki could do was look, look at the man sprawled on the couch, sleeping. His mouth was hanging open and a long line of saliva was falling down his cheek and into his long unkempt beard that seemed to have cake, Cheetos and Norns alone know what else stuck in it!

And the _hair!_ That wasn't even hair, that was long, messed up yarn stuck to his head, matted and soaked in filth!

He was wearing a big t-shirt and sweat pants, both with way too many stains on them and barely covering his big _gut_ spilling unto the couch cushions.

Valkyrie sighed deeply. "Korg!" she started calling as she walked further in. "Hey Korg!" then she disappeared into another room.

This time Loki didn't follow her, his attention was solely focused on that… _thing._ On the couch.

This couldn't be Thor! There was no way! NO WAY in all of nine realms that _this_ was Thor Odinson! Former Prince now King of Asgard. You LIARS!

Yet, the proof was right in front of Loki. He recognized the face, bloated though in had become. He even recognized the scent hiding far beneath all that sweat and filth... The scent... Norns it was nauseating. The worst assault to his nose was a layer of alcoholic sweat, utterly disgusting. Day-old Cheeto dust and rancid grease also filled the air but behind it... behind it was the scent of iron and soil, electricity combined with water, the scent of a thunderstorm. Loki knew it so well. When he had been a small child, he had found comfort in the scent... the scent of rain and thunder, of an iron hammer, of earth and wet leaves: the scent of Thor. No one else in the nine realms had a scent even coming remotely close. That scent that would lead Loki's thoughts to the sound of rain hitting the windows, yet it was safe. For it was him, his brother, Thor.

This was Thor….

 _This…_ was… _Thor!_

Suddenly Loki's shock was replaced by anger, a deep burning anger that consumed his thoughts.

So this was what Thor had been doing with his time?! The golden king?! Laying on the couch like a potato sack! Loki bared his fangs as he stalked forward and finally jumped up on Thor's big stomach, the flab squished nastily under his paws, but the matted beard was a thousand times worse. He growled in disgust as he climbed Thor's chest, coming face to face with the snoring man.

His breath was _awful._ Had he forgotten how to brush his teeth as well?!

Loki hissed, his fur standing straight out, his fangs showing. Then he lifted a paw, the claws out as far as possible, glistening white in the dim interior of this filthy hovel. Paused briefly, aimed and ... the claws were buried deep into Thor's nose, leaving pathetically small but bloody furrows in their wake.

At once Thor's eyes opened wide as he screamed, and Loki came at him again with claws and teeth all aimed right at Thor's face as he yowled. _You imbecilic, lazy Aes! Once again I'm left cleaning up after your stupidity! Just. Like. Always! And this time it's not just your idiot friends you're failing. It's ALL THE PEOPLE WE HAVE LEFT, YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE OF A KING!_ As he thrashed in confusion at this unexpected awakening, Thor screamed even more. Loki thought it sounded perfect.

"THOR!" Valkyrie yelled as she came running. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?!"

Thor could only scream as he tried to cover his face, getting claws raking his arms in response. Thor leaned back, trying to get away from his attacker, only to fall down from the couch and onto the floor with a giant thud. Loki was still on top of him, now biting Thor's hand, making Thor scream yet again before his flailing hand finally managed to land a hit on Loki, sending him flying backwards across the room into the wall. The impact knocked the wind out of him, and he collasped on the floor.

Valkyrie screamed "STRAY!" and Thor's eyes widened as they focused on Loki.

"A… A cat?" he gasped.

"Oh no! No-no-no!" Valkyrie ran for Loki. He groaned and tried to stand up, his body hurt so much. "Kitty, oh no kitty!"

"I.. I'm sorry!" Thor gasped. "I don't know what..."

Valkyrie turned to Thor and saw his face and arms covered with scratches. "By the Norns." she gasped.

Thor hissed as the pain registered in his drink- and sleep-fogged brain. He raised a hand to his face, then hissed again. Clearly the claw marks were stinging. _Good! Serves you right, you pathetic lump!_ With any luck this would teach him a lesson. He deserved every last one of those marks, and any future ones as well!

Then Valkyrie shook her head. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let a stray in here. He was so sweet before, though! I don't know what happened! Maybe you rolled over on him or something." she suggested, only for Loki to hiss in Thor's direction again. Thor crawled backwards in response.

"Sssh, sssh, kitty." Valkyrie touched Loki with gentle hands to calm him down. "You're ok. It's ok." She gently picked him up, cradling Loki in her arms before slowly turning around to face Thor again, which meant that Loki was now also facing Thor.

Thor was still laying on the floor, wide-eyed, looking at Loki. Loki was satisfied to see Thors face and arms now sporting a patchwork of red scratches. He glared at the idiot god and hissed again, making Thor let out a tiny shriek.

Wide-eyed, Valkyrie looked at Thor. "That's funny, I thought you would be the type who got along with animals."

"I am!" Thor exclaimed. "I love animals! And they… usually they love me." and he cowered again from Loki's hiss. "Get that Helheim creature away from me!" he shrieked, crawling back.

Valkyrie hesitated slightly, then she smirked.

"Valkyrie?" Thor asked.

"On one condition." Valkyrie informed him smugly. "Take a shower!"

Thor blinked.

"The kitty stays, unless you take a shower!" Valkyrie stated, stepping forward and holding Loki up. Thor shrieked again as he crawled backwards until he suddenly bumped into the wall as Valkyrie smirked. "Kitty kitty! You don't like the kitty, Thor?"

"STOP!" Thor held up a hand. "It'll take a shower! Just get it out of here!" he pleaded. Valkyrie stepped back, and slowly Thor looked up at her.

"Then get to it! Shower _now!_ " Valkyrie demanded. "I am not leaving until I hear the water running!"

Thor hesitated, but slowly he stood up and started to edge towards the door, keeping as close to the walls as possible. Lokis eyes always following him with an intent stare as he smiled to himself, tail swaying back and forth until finally Thor vanished through a door. Presumably it was the bathroom. He soon heard the sound of water running, and Valkyrie sighed deeply.

"Thank you kitty. Who'd have thought you would be so much help?" Valkyrie asked then looked concerned. "I hope you're not hurt, being thrown into a wall like that, poor kitty."

Loki let out a pathetic mew.

"I'll take you right to a healer, they'll make sure you are fine." Valkyrie informed him as she walked out and Loki just let her, leaning into the warmth and comfort of her arms.

He might as well get himself checked over, with all he'd been through. Hopefully Thor's shower would take a while, and he had time enough to be checked up on at least.

"That was so weird though." Valkyrie breathed as she stepped out the house and started back down the path. "You've been so sweet until now. Is it because you don't like drunks?" she asked.

Loki offered the most pathetic sound possible.

"Don't you worry, the big fat drunk won't touch you okay?" Valkyrie asked. "You just stick to me little Stray."

Oh, Valkyrie… You innocent thing. We haven't even started yet.


	4. Chaos in the house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited by: Origami_Roses

Thor…. was shocked. Was _in_ shock.

What… What had just happened? He had been sleeping and things were as right with his shattered world as they could ever be. Then sharp pain on his face had pulled him from the temporary oblivion he craved. He had found himself fighting a ferocious foe, only to be met with a pair of shining green demon-like eyes on a black furry face when he finally had space to focus. Those eyes had been filled with rage, a burning anger that somehow sparked a memory he could not quite reach, aimed right at Thor and now he could not get them out of his mind.

The pain that had accompanied that glare... "Auw, ssshhh." Thor hissed as he gingerly touched his face again. This was not a good time to take a shower; the water made all the scratches sting. It would be impossible to use soap without suffering further pain. This entire shower thing had become a very long and tedious process. And entirely unnecessary. Why shower when he never went anywhere?

Norns, Thor just wanted to go back to sleep. Everything was hurting so much. His head, his back, his heart… And now also his face and arms where that creature had mauled him. Why? Why was he the target of its ire?

Eventually, Thor finished up his shower and was prepared to just go back to sleep already. He found the soiled clothes he'd discarded on the floor more distasteful than expected, and put on a long bathrobe instead. Maybe there was something behind this showering thing after all. He yawned as he opened the door, only to scream in shock.

For there… Right there, waiting on the other side of the door, glaring with those rage-filled demon eyes, was a cat. _The_ cat. It wasn't a big cat. In fact, it was very small. Probably just a kitten. But it was sitting there, _right_ in front of the door, tail lashing back and forth, a low threatening sound coming from its throat and those green shining eyes… Looking at him. They looked very judgmental right now. And angry... So very angry.

"Va-VAL!" Thor yelled. "Valkyrie! You… Your cat is still here!" there was no reply. Valkyrie had left him alone with the creature. Wide-eyed Thor stared back at the cat with growing unease at that unwavering gaze.

Okay, this was ridiculous… It was a cat! And from the looks of it, just a Midgardian cat. A tiny, Midgardian feline. It was so small it could fit into Thor's palm. He had defeated foes far larger and more formidable; there was no reason for him to quail before a mere cat! Thor tried to send the small creature a smile, it was very strained though. "He… Hey." he stammered. "Kitty kitty."

The cat hissed and Thor stepped back in shock.

"VALKYRIEEEE!" Thor shouted.

"Yo, what's up man." A soft voice sounded and Thor groaned as the Kronak entered.

"Where's Valkyrie?" Thor asked.

"Oh, she left a while ago. Oh hey look! Kitty cat." Korg grinned pointing at the cat.

"Korg help me!" Thor asked, vaguely ashamed at the beginnings of panic he felt creeping over him.

"With what?" Korg asked.

"The cat! It won't let me leave the bathroom!" Thor exclaimed.

Korg looked at Thor, then looked down at the cat… The extremely tiny little cat which Thor could easily step over.

Then Korg shrugged. "All right man." He walked over and easily picked up the cat then stepped away. "There!"

Thor looked at Korg in wide-eyed surprise, then he looked at the cat which was _still_ glaring at him! It looked so very angry.

"Didn't know you were afraid of cats dude." Korg commented.

"I.. I'm not afraid of cats." Thor stated.

"Seemed pretty afraid to me." Korg replied.

"Well I'm not." Thor informed back.

"You sure?" Korg asked.

"I AM NOT AFRAID OF CATS!" Thor shouted.

"All-right, alright! Whatever you say. Calm down." Korg held up his free hand.

Thor groaned deeply. "I need a drink." He simply stated as he walked to the fridge and opened it, pulling out a can of beer and opening it. The moment Thor was about to put the can to his lips he felt a sharp stabbing pain on his ankle. "ARGH!" Thor shouted, spilling his beer as he flinched and looking down to see the small black creature from Hel glaring back at him.

"HEY!" Thor shouted. "Get off me!"

The cat hissed, showing its pearly white and very sharp teeth.

"KORG!" Thor shouted.

"Wow, that cat really doesn't like you." Korg blinked.

"Hey-hey-hey!" Thor shouted jumping back as the cat now attacked his leg and began crawling up Thor's bath robe. Thor could feel every single grip the cat made with its claws. "GET OFF ME!" he shouted accidentally dropping the can and trying to swipe at the cat with his hand, only to scream in pain as the cat caught his hand _with its mouth!_ It bit hard, and Thor screamed again, trying to pull his hand away! But the little cat just growled and held on tightly, teeth buried in his hand and claws attached to Thors bath robe and (more importantly) his thigh _under_ the robe. The pain was incredible.

"ARGH!" Thor finally managed to free his hand and the cat dropped to the ground. It hissed and seemed about to jump back up for another attack when Korg caught it and was now holding the cat in his stony hands. Eyes wide in pain, Thor looked at the black creature in the Kronans hand with something skin to terror… was… Was that cat grinning? Could a cat grin?

Then Thor looked at his hand and realized he was actually _bleeding._

"Wow." Korg blinked. "Man, you would almost think this cat had a personal vendetta against you or something huh?"

Thor glared at Korg.

"So erh… What should I do with it?" Korg asked.

"It's Valkyrie's, give it back to her!" Thor asked. "And tell her to keep it away from me!"

"Sure thing dude." Korg stated as he turned around and left with the cat.

Thor groaned as he collapsed on the couch. Why… Why was this happening to him? He probably deserved it, but why?

"Meow."

"ARGH!" Wide-eyed Thor looked down to see the cat, back again sitting right in front of him. Staring. "KOOORG!"

"Sorry dude!" The Kronak came running right back. "It got away from me and ran back in!" he picked the cat up again only for the cat to squirm out of his grip and glare up at Thor who stood up from the couch, ready to retreat.

Korg grabbed for the cat again, but this time it evaded him entirely and led him on a merry chase, with the Kronan running back and forth across the room trying to get the cat while Thor did all in his power to get _away_ from it, both of them shoving furniture out of the way in their haste.

"Get him Miik! Get him!" Korg shouted as the cat was headed in the direction of the small alien who had just entered the room to see what the ruckus was about. But the cat turned aside before Miik could react and evaded them yet again.

Finally, they all gave up, beyond exhausted. Korg was laying across a chair, gasping for air. Thor was panting heavily from his seat on the couch. Even Miik, laying on his pillow, was out of breath.

The only one _not_ gasping for air, was the stupid cat now sitting on the coffee table looking utterlt composed and starting straight at Thor… Again.

"Dude… I don't think we are going to get rid of that cat." Korg gasped.

"What do you want huh?" Thor asked the cat directly. It just looked at him with those angry green eyes. "Valkyrie is already willing to give you a nice warm pillow to call your own and all the fish you could possible eat. What do you need _me_ for?" he asked. "Are you just here to punish me? Is that it huh?" he asked.

The cats eyes narrowed.

"It's not needed okay!" Thor exclaimed. "I _know!_ I'm not a king. I'm a failure and a sick pathetic joke! Leave me alone!" he stood up.

The cat just hissed. It made no sense! Why was this cat so angry at him? And why did it feel so personal?

Thor's eyes watered and he sniffed. "Leave me alone." he asked again and turned around, storming into his bedroom and slamming the door. Finally he could sigh a breath of relief… The cat hadn't followed him.

Thor had this eerie feeling though… A feeling that that cat would _not_ go away and the next time he opened his bedroom door, the cat would be sitting there, looking at him again.

What was happening?  
  


* * *

  
Loki was seething as he looked at the closed door, his current body had so many limitations. Right now he couldn't follow.

But this wasn't over… Loki growled at the door his pathetic, idiot brother was hiding behind. _This is not over, Thor! You people have no idea what I had to go through just to be here! I HAD TO BE_ _BORN_ _TO BE HERE! It was not a pleasant experience. I do NOT want to have to repeat it. EVER! Do you have ANY idea how hard it is to cross entire countries as a CAT?! We've got ten and a half months before the man who talks to ants will emerge from wherever he's hiding and then we have ONE shot at fixig this. ONE! I will NOT let you waste it! All Father help me and Norns bear witness, I am going to_ beat _you into shape, Thor!_

"Man.." Korg blinked, looking at Loki. "That's a weird cat.


	5. Ragnar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited by: Origami_Roses

Thor was sitting on his couch, leaning slightly forward, his eyes narrowed. In front of him, sitting on the coffee table was a small black cat, looking right back at him with a very similar expression.

"Now listen here." Thor murmured in a low angry voice. " _I'm_ the one living here you got that? I don't know what it is you want. But whatever it is, get it somewhere else!"

"Dude, you know you are talking to a cat right?" Korg asked.

Thor hissed in annoyance.

"I mean, cats don't understand people language right?" Korg asked. "Or… Do they? I will admit I am not very familiar with Earth species."

"Korg… be quiet." Thor asked, then turned back to the cat. He pointed a finger. "Get out of my house!" he demanded.

Only for the cat to jump up and bite his finger.

"ARGH!" Thor shouted, immediately retracting his hand. "You saw that right?!" He asked Korg, waving his hurt hand.

"We already know the cat doesn't like you dude." Korg said in his usual laid back voice.

"Well, you don't have to like me! That's fine!" Thor hissed at the cat. "But why then DO YOU HAVE TO KEEP FOLLOWING ME!?" he shouted.

The cat hissed back at him.

Thor groaned as he sat back. The cat was not going to move, it seemed. He grabbed for the remote and turned on the television.

Humans had proven themselves to be very creative with their entertainment; what was called a sit-com was playing on the screen. The laugh track signaling a joke had just been spoken and Thor leaned back sighing.

Suddenly, a small black body jumped up and there was a furry creature sitting _right_ in front of the screen blocking the view… and once again the green eyes were glaring at him.

"Are you serious right now?" Thor asked.

The cat just kept looking at him… why did it have to always look so judgmental? Thor groaned as he stood up and headed for the counter in the kitchen.

He pulled out a glass and a bottle of whiskey, uncorking the bottle and pouring himself up a healthy glass.

Sighing Thor put the bottle back and turned to pick up his drink, only to halt… THE CAT WAS ON THE COUNTER! Sitting right next to the glass of whiskey. Its green eyes, looking right at Thor… then slowly… slowly it lifted a paw.

"Hey!" Thor exclaimed. "Don't you dare!"

The paw moved closer, closer to the glass.

"In the All Father's name I demand that you..." Thor began.

The raised paw shoved at the glass, which fell off the counter and shattered on the ground.

"ARGGH!" Thor yelled grabbing his hair as he stared at the mess of spilled alcohol and glass shards. "Won't you let me have _anything?!"_ he shouted.

The cat was grinning.

"Okay that's it!" Thor exclaimed. "YOU STUPID CAT!"

* * *

Valkyrie couldn't help but be astounded as she came for her daily visit to Thor's house. It was routine for her, every day after work she would check on him. Most of the time it would be quiet, Thor would usually either be sleeping or sprawled out in front of the television, either playing games or watching brain dead sitcoms. This time though, there was big crashes sounding from inside of the house! There were yells, big booms and then suddenly, a furry creature came jumping through the window.

"STRAY!" Valkyrie gasped.

The cat turned its head at the sound of her voice and immediately changed direction to jump right into her arms as the door slammed open.

"YOU COME BACK HERE YOU DEMON SPAWN!"

Wide-eyed, Valkyrie looked up at the man… at the God of Thunder standing in the door. In t-shirt and sweat pants. Even so.

"Thor..." Valkyrie blinked holding the kitten close. "You… You're outside of the house."

Thor looked at her, then his eyes turned to the cat in her arms. "Keep that thing _away from me!"_ he shouted.

"Huh?" Valkyrie blinked then looked down. "You mean the cat?"

"That's not a cat!" Thor stated. "That's a creature sent from Helheim!"

Loki swallowed a snicker. _Well, yes, Thor. Technically I was sent here from Helheim. You don't know even the half of it._

"Thor, seriously?" Valkyrie asked. "I know you two got off the wrong foot yesterday. But he's a _kitten!_ Look at him! He's no threat to you. Stop being such a baby!"

Thor's eyes widened in pure shock.

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Valkyrie continued. "What was going on in there?! It sounded like you tried to kill him. A _kitten_ Thor!"

"It won't leave me alone!" Thor defended himself. "Beside it's evil!"

"Oh grow up." Valkyrie snorted then turned to the cat in her arms. "Did that big bad man scare you huh?" she asked. "Yeah he's a big stupid brute. Especially these days." she muttered as the cat let out a pathetic sound, almost like a whine.

"You got to be kidding me." Thor groaned just as a Kronak came and peered over his shoulder.

"Oh hey, Valkyrie." Korg spoke managing to squeeze himself past Thor. "Erhm hey look. It was a fun idea to have a kitten here during the night, but I don't think it is going to work out."

"So he was here all night?" Valkyrie asked. "You silly thing, I was worried about you." she lectured the kitten as if he could understand her.

"Yeah, Vortex might be cute. But he is a little bit destructive." Korg commented.

"Vortex?" Thor turned to him.

"Yeah, his fur! It is black like the deepest coldest space. And it looks like there's been a tornado in the living room. So Vortex." Korg explained.

"We are not calling him that!" Valkyrie huffed.

"Oh, okay." Korg shrugged.

"I don't care what you call him, just keep him _away_ from me!" Thor demanded.

Valkyrie rolled her eyes.

"If that cat comes into my house, _one more time!"_ Thor exclaimed.

"You'll what?" Valkyrie asked venomously. "Hit a defenseless creature? Yeah, real heroic!"

Thor gasped, his eyes wide in shock.

"I'm getting sick of this Thor!" Valkyrie exclaimed. "You just lay there day in and day out! And now you are blaming a _cat_ for your issues?! I thought I would be serving a worthy king at last, but I find I'm left with a couch potato! GET A GRIP!"

Thor gasped, his eyes were wide.

Valkyrie halted too, wide-eyed looking at Thor. "Oh no.. Thor I'm so sorry. I didn't mean." she tried.

"No." Thor looked down. "You did… And you're right. I'm sorry." he stepped backwards.

"Wait Thor!" Valkyrie exclaimed but Thor was gone and the door was closed.

Korg blinked as he looked at the closed door then back at Valkyrie. "Harsh, man."

"Oh Norns, what have I done?" Valkyrie asked.

Korg shrugged. "Said what you wanted to say for a while. Listen man, you should take little Vortex away. He is not doing well with Thor."

"We are not calling him Vortex." Valkyrie muttered. "Fine." she turned around. "Make sure Thor doesn't kill himself in there will you?"

"It's why I am here!" Korg saluted.

Valkyrie sighed then turned back around and walked down with the cat in her arms.

Loki allowed Valkyrie to carry him back, he needed a rest and a meal… And he needed to think this over.

He was still angry with Thor, but seeing him like that just a moment ago… Loki felt. He didn't know what to think. He just knew, he didn't feel good.

As Valkyrie entered her home she put Loki down at the same pillow as before and offered him fish and water before Valkyrie plummeted down on her own couch groaning.

Loki halted, he looked up at the woman and ones again he noticed… She look exhausted. Slowly Loki approached her, then jumped up on the couch beside Valkyrie. She turned her head then smiled lightly. "You, a creature from Helheim?" she asked. "What have Thor been drinking?" she asked gently scratching Loki.

Loki couldn't help it, it just came naturally. A deep purr.

Valkyrie smiled amused then let go to Lokis disappointment. "It didn't start like that you know." she breathed.

Loki looked up.

"At first… He tried. He really did." Valkyrie swallowed. "He helped building houses, using his own hands. Asked if citizens were doing all right but… He wasn't doing well. He didn't sleep at night, I didn't even know. He started to mess up his work and he would blame himself. He would drink in the evening… Just the evening to take his mind off things. But evening turns to night and night turns to morning. Still drunk in the morning he would try but he would mess things up and blame himself. He would apologize and hide so people wouldn't have to see him crying… He appeared less and less frequently until he didn't appear at all. And then… He just gave up." Valkyrie swallowed, her eyes growing wet and she covered them with her hand.

Loki looked down, his head spinning. How? How could it all turn into this? And why? What was wrong with people?

"He blames himself you know." Valkyrie said in a broken voice. "For everything. But it's not his fault. I just… I don't know what to do anymore. He's not getting better, he's only getting worse."

Loki sighed… Ten months before the man who talks to ants re-emerges. And he was stuck being a cat. He couldn't talk, he had a tiny bit of magic but hadn't managed to actually use it yet. He didn't have hands so he could write a letter, he had nothing.

 _Is this just a joke Hela? I am here but I am unable to do anything. You're just mocking me aren't you?_ He really wouldn't put it past her.

* * *

Valkyrie had gone to sleep, she had barely laid down before her eyes fell shut and she was snoring already.

Loki didn't stick around, he headed out. Back outside, back up the small path and up to the lonely little hut.

Inside he could hear sounds from the television, as Loki jumped through the window he could see Korg playing on some machine with Miik sitting next to him. Thor was nowhere in sight.

Loki walked the house towards the place he knew Thor's bedroom was and from inside… he heard muffled sobs.

Loki halted… Thor… crying? This wasn't right, there was nothing right about this. Loki put both his front paws against the door and just managed to push it open enough so he could slip through.

Inside was dark. The bedroom, like all other rooms in this house, was a mess. The floor was littered with smelly clothes and dirty plates. The bed was a rumpled in disarray and occupied by one Thunder God, curled on his side, sobbing.

Loki hesitated… Then he walked to the bed and jumped up. Thor twitched as he landed on the mattress, then he turned around and faced Loki with a pair of tear filled eyes, one blue the other golden and mechanical. Upon seeing him, Thor sat up. "YOU AGAIN!" he exclaimed.

Loki though, was quiet this time as he looked up at Thor.

"I told you to get out! Shush!" Thor waved at him. "Go away! Go back to Valkyrie."

Loki just sat there.

"Look, I don't know what to do with you! Why do you keep coming back to bother me?!" Thor asked. "I know I… I deserve it, I deserve all of it but I don't… I don't." he sniffed.

Then Loki stood up, and pressed his forehead against Thor's hand. Thor's eyes widened at the contact, and he looked down at Loki who was now rubbing his head on Thor's knuckles.

 _I'm here you big fat idiot! I'm right here!_ Loki hated it, hated that he was unable to speak. All he could do was this, lean his body towards Thor and release a purr.

Thor gasped in surprise. "What..."

Loki walked as close to Thor as he could, and laid against him. Thor looked at him, bewildered, as tears began flowing down his cheeks again. And then he grabbed Loki and bawled as he held Loki tight.

Loki just let him.

"I.. I'm sorry." Thor sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

For how long Thor cried like this, Loki had no idea. Everything the big idiot was saying was just incomprehensible gibberish. Finally though, it looked like Thor had just worn himself out and fell into sleep.

Perhaps for the first time in quite a while it was a proper sleep.

Loki just curled himself next to Thor. He wasn't going to leave. Not now.

* * *

Normally Valkyrie would only visit Thor in the afternoon, but this morning there was the issue of a missing kitten, and the last time that had happened, the kitten had turned up at Thor's place. And Thor hadn't been happy! Valkyrie hissed, hoping the kitten was somewhere else and that Thor was just sleeping so she wouldn't have to deal with anything.

As Valkyrie reached the house all was quiet. Okay... she would just quietly sneak in and check. Quietly Valkyrie pushed open the door, and sneaked through the living room towards the kitchen. As she reached the door, she halted…

She just froze.

Valkyrie had to blink, she was rubbing her eyes for a double check and looked again. There, standing with his back to her at the stove was Thor.

A pan was sizzling, and a scent of eggs filled the air.

Then Valkyrie noticed the little cat was sitting on the counter right next to the stove. "STRAY!" she exclaimed.

Thor jumped in shock then he turned around to look at Valkyrie, wide-eyed.

"Ah… Thor!" Valkyrie stammered. "I just I… Stray wasn't at home. And you said that… erhm." she blushed deeply. "I just. About yesterday." she halted then looked down. "I'm sorry."

Thor blinked as she looked down at the floor.

"I didn't mean it." Valkyrie muttered.

"No. You did. You mean it." Thor sighed deeply. "And you are in your full right to be fed up with all of it. You are carrying a responsibility you never asked for." he said turning back to the pan.

"That's not… Of course I want to help!" Valkyrie exclaimed. "They are my people to! I just." she sighed deeply. "I don't know… I'm trying to give you room. Thinking that if you just get time you'll get better. But you are not getting better! You're only getting worse. I don't know what else to do!"

Thor lowered his head.

"Do you… want me to take Stray outside?" Valkyrie asked.

"I think you mean Ragnar." Thor spoke.

Valkyrie blinked. "Huh?"

"The cat." Thor explained. "His name is Ragnar."

"Oh." Valkyrie blinked. "How come Thor?" she asked.

Thor smirked lightly, turning a piece of bacon on the pan. "When I was a child, Loki and I would often wander off. Try to explore the nature, go further than we were allowed to on purpose. One day, Loki found something. A wild Njilavir, you know the ones. Asgardian felines. This one… had a broken leg. Loki was heart broken… Loki liked animals. We often teased him that he seemed to like animals more than people."

Valkyrie smiled amused as she sat down just to listen.

"You can probably guess what happened from there. The poor thing had been laying there for days at least. It was clearly starved. Loki smuggled it into the palace. I mean he's Loki, of course he would do the exact thing he wasn't supposed to do. What else would he do than care for it in secret?" Thor commented, an amused light in his eyes. "Then when it got up and broke stuff he would come up with all kinds of crazy stories… He called it Ragnar." Thor smiled. "It is the name of a hero, who overcomes all the odds to rise up and become even stronger than he was before."

Valkyrie smiled back at him. "It's a good name." she nodded.

"Yeah, I wanted to call him Sir Whiskers." Thor informed. "Loki got mad, said it was a stupid name and dignified creatures like cats deserved better than that." he shook his head. "Loki was also the one naming father's horse, Sleipner. He said that names are very important. It's a large portion of the impression people will have. And animals, who can't speak for themselves, more than anyone deserve consideration."

Valkyrie smiled, amused. The idea of a small Loki being that stubborn about the name of animals was pretty cute. "So what happened to the Njilavir Loki found?" she asked.

"Of course he was found out!" Thor smirked amused. "He kept it for much longer than he needed to, its leg was fine but he didn't want to say goodbye. Which just resulted in trashed rooms which he just couldn't hide anymore. Father sure gave both of us a good scolding. Loki for doing it, and me for being an accomplice" he informed as he turned around holding the pan. "Breakfast?" he asked.

"If there's enough for two." Valkyrie replied in a smile.

"I'll just split it." Thor stated finding two plates and splitting the eggs and bacon as well as the toasted bread he had made before he put down the plates on the dining table. "I probably need to cut down on food anyway." he muttered.

"Just the drinking." Valkyrie replied as she stood and walked to the dining table taking a seat. "You seem… Better today." she commented picking up a piece of toast.

"Yeah.." Thor nodded. "I haven't been drinking for the last twenty-four hours."

"How come?" Valkyrie asked.

"The cat won't let me." Thor pointed at the counter where Ragnar was still sitting.

Valkyrie looked at Thor. "Seriously?" she asked.

"I'm telling you Valkyrie! I pick up some beer and that cat's claws are right in my leg! Or my hand!" Thor exclaimed. "He knocked my glass of whiskey off the counter!"

Valkyrie shrugged. "Maybe he just doesn't like alcohol."

"Where did you even find that cat?" Thor asked.

"At the edge of the village, poor thing was all alone." Valkyrie sighed.

Thor sighed deeply. "I am not sure what that cat is." he commented. "However." he turned to the black feline. "It looks like whether I like it or not he's here now and he is not going anywhere."

"So you wont be chasing after him anymore?" Valkyrie asked.

"It doesn't help. He slips away." Thor sighed. "I suppose I better just accept him."

Valkyrie smirked. "Well, I am just glad you are doing so well this morning." she stated. "Perhaps you could even come outside today! You haven't been in the village in forever."

"I..." Thor looked down. "I don't… I don't want them to see me like this." he admitted.

Valkyrie sighed. "All right, but listen Thor. Things wont get better if you stay in here. One day, you will have to go outside."

Thor closed his eyes, ashamed of his weakness, but nodded.

"You keep an eye on him Ragnar!" Valkyrie nodded at the cat on the counter, reaching out to rub his head. Then she halted. It looked like the cat had given her a nod. "Well, whatever you are, you seem to have a good effect on Thor so well… Thank you."

And the cat gave her a long, slow blink. Was Valkyrie imagining it or was it also giving her a relieved smile? … This was weird.


	6. Broken communication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter edited by: Origami_Roses

Well, Loki had made some kind of progress... sort of. He guessed.

Why and how, he didn't know, but he also knew it was far from enough - Thor needed to get into shape! However, when you are a small not-fully-grown cat, smaller than the Thunder God's foot, it is _not_ easy to force the big lunk to do push ups! Or go for a run! Or anything.

But that didn't stop him from trying. Loki was pushing Thor… Or rather he was _trying_ to push Thor, butting his head against Thors foot and pushed.

_Come on! Come on we need to go outside! Go for a run! Uuuuuuuuurgh!_

Then suddenly Thor took a step and Loki just fell over, lacking support from the foot he had been pressing himself against.

"Heh." a deep voice sounded from above. "You really are pretty cute." Thor commented as he reached down. Loki found himself being picked up and a large, rough finger began stroking his forehead.

 _Shut up Thor… You still got one eye left I could scratch out_.

"I guess I should find you something to eat right?" Thor asked. "That's why you keep pressing up against me isn't it?"

_NO! I need you to go outside and start training… But yes I am rather famished._

Thor put Loki down on the counter and opened the fridge. "You are not supposed to give felines milk, that's what Loki said." he murmured. "Meat." he pulled out a sausage and put it on a cutting board. "Need to ask Valkyrie to buy some cat food I guess."

Yeah, no. Loki was not going to eat anything coming out of a can, nor those dry food pellet things his cat mother had eaten.

"Can you keep a secret?" Thor asked Loki as he started to cut the sausage up.

_I can't talk Thor, how would I be able to share any secrets?_

"You… you remind me of my brother." Thor admitted and Loki blinked. "He was amazing. He could transform into animals and… they would usually be black with green eyes. Like you." he breathed. "His hair was black and his eyes green so I guess it makes sense… I erhm. I have this weird thought that maybe ... maybe there might be a bit of Loki inside of you or something. And that you were sent here to keep an eye on me. But don't tell anyone, they'll think I have gone insane. Of course it's not true, of course you're not Loki. He's dead… And for real this time."

Loki lowered his head, unable to face the sorrow in Thor's voice.

"Not even Loki would be so cruel to pose himself as a cat and not reveal himself if he had somehow survived." Thor sighed deeply. "He was fond of playing tricks, but they were for fun, things to laugh over afterward. Even in taking vengeance for a slight he was not cruel. Not truly." Thor's breath hitched slightly, as if he were about to cry.

No, Loki had never cared for causing true harm… Embarrassment, a fright, a lesson - certainly, any of those. Gleefully, even. But his pranks, even in malice, were relatively harmless. If he could ease his brother's suffering, he would. If Loki could turn into something humanoid he would have. Even just something that could communicate.

"If Loki was here now… He would be so mad at me." Thor sighed again. "And disappointed. I can just see it, the way he would look at me. He didn't think I would be a worthy king, you know, not for a very long time. He tried to tell me, to get me to change, and when that failed, to make sure I wouldn't be king. I was so angry at him because I couldn't see it. He'd been at my side our whole lives, always there to help. Always fixing things. And then he wasn't. It felt like he'd betrayed me by not supporting me, and then I thought he was dead. It was the worst time of my life. Well, the first worst time. There have been worse times since. But then, finally… He was there again. He supported me, he said to me I was king now and that was how it was meant to be. He believed in me, that I could do it. It meant so much to me!" Thors eyes glittered with tears yet to fall. "That Loki of all people would say that! It made me think that just maybe… But he was right from the start." his voice broke as the tears began to track down his cheeks. "He was right!"

_Dammit Thor, why do you have to make me feel so awful about myself._

The plate with sausage was put in front of Loki, but he didn't feel hungry anymore.

And Thor was leaning over the counter crying quietly.

 _Norns! What am I supposed to do?!_ If he could just _talk_ to Thor! Loki hissed in annoyance, they needed to talk. Clearly! But how?!

Loki looked at his plate, with pieces of sausage and his eyes widened as inspiration struck. AHA! It wasn't much, but at least he would be able to make just one single word right? Loki bent forward and started to use his little nose to rearrange pieces of meat, it was very crude and hard to make out… and then he lacked pieces of meat. Dammit, but it was clearly runes! Right?

_I am h_

… He wanted to right _I am here,_ but didn't work out. Still though! _Thor! Thor look! Thor! I made letters._

Thor was looking the other way, head still bowed in his grief.

"Meow!" Loki tried.

Thor sighed deeply, and straightened, wiping his eyes.

"MEOOOW!" Loki proclaimed louder swiping for Thor's arm.

"Argh." Thor hissed looking down at Loki. "In a mood again huh?" he asked, then shook his head. "Just eat your food." And he walked away, not even looking at the plate.

Lokis hissed. _Dammit Thor! Look at the stupid plate! URGH! Fine, I'll figure something else! Urgh_. Loki returned to the plate just to eat. It would settle his stomach if not his discontent.

He would figure something out… Somehow.


	7. Step forward

Writing a message _seemed_ like the obvious thing to do, but it turned out that was _much_ easier said than done! Loki tried, but all of his attempts were somehow foiled! Whether is was that Thor wouldn't even bother to look, or someone would step on his handy work or _clean it up,_ his every effort was for naught!

Loki had pushed down a whole bag of flour on the floor so he could write in the flour, then Korg came and swept it all up! Stupid Kronan!

Loki had run outside and brought in twigs to lay in order, and Thor _stepped_ on them breaking all the twigs!

Loki had tried to start scratching runes on the table, but his claws were currently too tiny and weak to be effective. He'd been forced to stop when Korg came running after him with a spray bottle telling him he was a bad kitty. Loki had seethed at that. He was trying to _save them all_ , and their consistent refusal to _just listen_ was oh-so-familiar, and just as frustrating now as it had been in all his centuries of dealing with Thor and his previous band of idiots.

_What is it with Thor's tendency to attract the stupidest followers? And why did I ALWAYS try to protect them from their own stupidity? Norns!_

He had jumped at Korg to bite the Kronan's arm in retaliation… Only too late did Loki remember that Kronans were literately made of stone and he ended up screaming in pain as he fell to the floor.

"You okay Kitty?" Sounded the soft voice.

Loki hissed, then licked his fangs and realized… His left fang was broken, and looking down the tip was on the floor. HIS TOOTH WAS BROKEN! Urgh! It was just a baby tooth, cats also got new teeth when they were some months old but still! _You broke my tooth Korg!_

"Oh no, I broke your tooth. Sorry man." Korg spoke.

 _THAT'S WHAT I JUST…. Never mind…_ Loki groaned as he stumbled away to nurse his broken tooth and think of something else.

It was now a bit over two months ago since he had been sent back, ten months remained to get Thor ready to face the past.

Whatever the heck that meant.

As he nursed his tooth, Loki brooded on the unfairness of it all, and began to consider other options. Okay, writing was off the table - at least for now. What about Loki's magic? He knew he had magic, he could sense it. But… It was very weak. He supposed such a small body could only contain a small amount of magic. Sadly. It was so limiting. What could he do with it though? Limited was not the same as non-existent; he could surely do... something. Could he find a way to communicate? Loki closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on that energy inside of him.

 _Come on… Come on… Just a little spark_.

Nothing… Absolutely nothing.

Loki hissed. _Come on… come on.. Wait… waaaaait. There's something there, waait._

The door opened loudly and a Valkyrie's voice filled the room. "HEY THOR!"

Loki nearly fell off the counter as the dark skinned woman marched inside. "Ragnar!" she cheered at the sight of Loki. "Who's a good kitty? Who's a good kitty?!" she asked, scratching Loki behind the ear.

Loki sighed deeply. At least _someone_ was in a better mood these days, it was something about Thor actually doing better.

So Thor had started actually showering and had cut off that god awful beard. Joyous day, can we move on? It's not that special. He still has to go outside of the stupid house one more time.

"Hey Val." Thor came around the corner and Loki looked up.

Okay… Thor _did_ look better. He was clean, he was wearing clothes that weren't stained. Sweat pants and a t-shirt but still.

His skin looked nicer; Loki had not allowed him to drink any alcohol since they started this and Thor seemed like he had finally gotten the message as he just stopped trying.

To pass his time, Thor had started to cook. He wasn't really that good, but it was better than those nachos.

"Looking good." Valkyrie blinked. "How are you today."

"I'm… Good." Thor replied in a slightly hesitant voice. "Ragnar though, he's not eating the food you brought yesterday either."

"That's some picky cat. They told me it was the good stuff." Valkyrie pouted.

"Maybe another brand?" Thor asked.

Valkyrie sighed. "To the Midgard village again?" she asked. "No… Wait. Why do _I_ have to do that anyway?" she asked.

Thor blinked.

" _You_ go this time!" Valkyrie pointed at Thor.

"Me?" Thor asked. "To… The Midgardian village?" he asked. "Out… Outside?"

"You got anything else to do today?" Valkyrie asked.

Thor froze, then shook his head.

"Good!" Valkyrie smiled warmly. "I'll get you your coat!"

"Val WAIT!" Thor shouted but Valkyrie quickly darted into Thor's bedroom, and soon came back with coat and boots. "Come here." she walked over to Thor.

"Valkyrie, I'm not sure that..." Thor halted.

"It's going to be okay." Valkyrie assured putting the coat on him. "You're not going to our own village, you are going to the Midgard one. They won't even know who you are."

"I am pretty well known around here though." Thor pointed out.

"Well," Valkyrie smirked, then took off her own scarf and wrapped it around Thor, pulling it up so it covered Thor's mouth. "There, now no one knows."

Thor frowned slightly at her.

"Put on your boots." Valkyrie demanded dropping them in front of him.

Thor halted, but actually did as he had been told.

Loki's eyes widened. She had done it, Thor was going to go outside! For a pretty long walk, too.

Man, if Loki had known he would one day be so thankful for Valkyrie… he wouldn't have done anything differently, really. She was still super annoying. But he was glad she was there.

Finally Thor moved towards the door, then he halted at the threshold. Loki stood up, stretched, then ran between Thor's legs and outside, stopping in front of Thor and looking up at him.

"Ragnar?" Thor blinked, then he smiled softly. "Okay." he nodded and then, finally, took a step out of the house and started to walk, heading up and over the hills away from the Asgardian village.

Loki sighed in satisfaction and ran to keep pace with Thor who looked down at him, with an amused smile. "You are an odd cat." he commented.

_Well Thor, the truth is I am no cat at all. But I don't know how I am supposed to make you understand that since you've still not learned to listen to me, so here we are. ...And by the way, no matter what you buy, I am_ _ not _ _going to eat it._

* * *

_Okay you got me Thor. I will accept this smoked salmon as a worthy meal._ Loki was happily eating out of Thor's hand. The long travel to the Midgardian town had made him pretty hungry, and the salmon was good.

"You really followed me _all_ the way here?" Thor asked, astounded.

_Well duh! Someone had to keep an eye on you._

"You're… Really a very odd cat." Thor commented.

Loki yawned, as he had just finished his piece of salmon, then tripped slightly. This had been a very long walk for a kitten. Thor shook his head and picked Loki up and put him in his pocket so Loki's head poked out… Oh… _Oh this was nice. Good thinking Thor._ Loki yawned again. It was nice and cozy in that pocket as Thor started to walk and slowly Loki drifted off, lulled by the lingering scent of smoked salmon, and gently rocking warmth.

He was startled, jolting awake as he was suddenly taken out of the pocket and gently placed on a cushion.

_What? Back already?_

Thor seemed pretty exhausted, too, as he outright collasped on the couch and turned on the TV. Okay, this time Loki allowed it. Thor had done pretty good today and besides… Loki was still very tired. He curled up and went back to sleep, the inanity of Midgardian entertainment playing in the background.

* * *

The next day, as Thor stumbled out of his bedroom, he had to halt… A black kitten was sitting in front of the door looking very expectantly at him.

"You… Want to go for a walk again?" Thor asked.

It kept staring at him, waiting.

"Didn't know you were a dog." Thor joked but then halted as the cat kept looking. "O… Okay. I'll just get my coat." Within a short time, they were out the door and on a walk across the mountains. Despite his discomfort, Thor had to admit it was nice to get out. He smiled at his tiny companion. "You really are an odd cat." Yeah, it was nice.


	8. Kitty rescue

Nine months before the man who talks to ants was supposed to come and do… Whatever the heck he was supposed to do.

Thor and Loki had started to take walks every single day. Loki would always stand in front of the door after breakfast and wait for Thor. If Thor refused, Loki would start complaining, very loudly and very determinedly until Thor just gave in and went outside.

Sometimes the walks would be short, and sometimes… very, very long. They could be walking for an entire day.

Some days Thor wouldn't speak. Other days he would. And some days, he would stop in the middle of their walk and break down crying. Then he would talk. Thor talked about… All of it.

About Hela and how weak he had been in comparison to her, how he had been unable to save most of Asgard.

He talked about Thanos and once again, how he had been helpless watching Loki die, unable to do anything about it.

He told about Stormbreaker and how… Thor really thought he could have stopped it. He really thought if he had just gone for Thanos' head the snap wouldn't have happened.

Or at least that was what Thor believed.

But Loki already knew otherwise, and he hated he couldn't say it out loud. Even if Thor had gone for the head back then, it wouldn't have worked. He could not have stopped Thanos.

And Thor also cried, sobbed when he explained how he had finally killed Thanos.

How Thanos had been defenseless but Thor had been filled with rage and once again… Destroyed everything.

If there had been a chance, Thor had destroyed it.

_No… Thor. You have not, the stones were already gone. There was nothing more to do._

Maybe this was what Hela had intended. Perhaps this was exactly what Loki was supposed to do… It was so hard, though, to watch his brother in pain. To hear Thor's constant self-recriminations. To be unable to actually help or comfort him.

Thor was doing better, he looked better. But still wasn't doing very good, still nowhere near his old usual self. That bright smile and that glimmer in his eye was as absent as ever. And it was the worst.

It forced Loki to realize he had taken it for granted… How bright and happy Thor had always been. How easy going, even if he was a big fat idiot, always acting before thinking.

He had always been so hopeful, and annoyingly optimistic. Always sure of getting the best out of any situation.

Loki had hated that about Thor in the past… So much. It made Loki think Thor never took anything seriously. Even when the enemies were knocking at the door, Thor would still be grinning and flirting with the maidens around him.

Now Loki was willing to pay an awful lot to see that glimmer return.

Today, Thor was sitting on a way too familiar bench on top of a cliff with a free view over the oceans, and New Asgard not too far away from them.

"This is where my father died..." Thor breathed.

Loki was quiet sitting next to him.

Thor swallowed. "When I was growing up I… I always believed my Father had all the answers. That he just… That he knew everything, and every decision he made was right. I could never imagine my father doing anything bad, or anything that would have bad consequences. Whenever it _did_ involve someone getting hurt... I still believed he was in the right, just because he was... Odin. My father. I could never imagine him being wrong about anything."

Loki nodded, the words all to familiar. He had thought the very same thing when he was a child.

"Turns out… My father was just as flawed as anybody else." Thor sighed deeply, his eyes so hopeless. "He lied to me… And to my brother. He kept the most awful secrets. I don't even know about half the things he has done. Turns out, I never even knew my own father."

Loki glanced down.

"And now he's gone… And I am never going to know what kind of man he truly was." Thor breathed.

Loki rubbed his head towards Thor side, _I know… I know Thor… As much as I hated him, I feel the same._

"It hurts." Thor breathed. "Do you think that if… If he had just been honest. Loki wouldn't have.." he halted. "Or maybe he would, there's no telling. Loki." he closed his eyes. "We… We had just begun to.. To fix it." he sniffed. "We could have fixed it!" he broke as he covered his eyes with his hand. "It.. It's what mother would have wanted. I wanted it too, so badly. I didn't even believe it anymore, but there he was! As always, proving me wrong! We had a chance! But I… I couldn't save him! I was just laying there and I saw him! He was right in front of me!"

_Please stop Thor! Just stop this! I don't want to hear anymore._

"I was supposed to be strong. I was supposed to protect them, Asgard! What's wrong with me?!" Thor asked. "Why am I not any stronger?!" he asked.

 _DAMMIT THOR!_ Loki jumped down, he tried to scratch up the dirt with his paws… Runes. Come on, write the runes and let him know!

"I'm sorry Loki." Thor sniffed then he looked down and Loki looked up, for a moment their eyes met. "Loki?" Thor asked.

Lokis eyes widened.

Thor shook his head. "NO! That's wishful thinking." he grabbed his forehead. "Stop it!" he smacked himself. "Loki is dead and he's not coming back! Not this time!"

 _No! No you stupid idiot! I am here! I'm right here!_ "Meow, meoow!"

Thor sobbed. "They're gone… No matter how much I wish it wasn't so."

Loki hissed in frustration, then he felt it! His magic! YES HIS MAGIC! If he could just DO SOMETHING, Thor would understand. Loki collected the energy, he felt it. Yes.. Yes.. YES! And he released it.

Thor sniffed as he glanced up then halted. "Ragnar?" he asked, the spot in front of him was empty, the cat was gone.

"MEEEEOOOOOW!" A pathetic cry drew him to the cliffside, and Thor ran to the edge. His eyes widened, looking down... and down. "RAGNAR!"

For down there, clinging to the side of the cliff, out of reach, was a little cat.

NORNS! Loki had _not_ intended to teleport! Worst of all, there was no control. One second he had been right in front of Thor, trying his hardest to just make the lout SEE, and now he was down here, clinging for his life. Also his damn magic had already been utterly spent so he couldn't do it again.

"Hang on!" Thor shouted. "I'll figure something out!"

Loki could only cling, and hope. Then suddenly. some sort of rope was thrown down, the end landing out of reach. Loki stared at it blankly, tried to come up with some way to change his position, to climb the short distance to just... reach... and realized it was Thor's coat and shirt tied together, and Thor himself, now bare chested, was carefully scrambling down, reaching for Loki. His arms stretching, so close but not quite, one fingertip grazing Loki's paw. "Come on, Ragnar." Thor stretched just that bit farther, the finger brushed his fur again, curled just under his elbow, and gently lifted. It wasn't much of a grip, not much support, but it was an improvement. "Come on. Please, Ragnar. You never give up. I've got you, I just need you to hold on." Loki braced as well as he could, and twitched his paw far enough sink his claws into Thor's finger. It proved a better hold than the crumbling dirt and stone of the cliff and Loki was able to use the leverage to get his other paw hooked into Thor's other fingers and from there he climbed into the curl of Thor's hand. Thor grinned, and brought Loki protectively against his chest. "We're almost there. Just hold on." At the first opportunity, Loki changed his perch to Thor's chest so Thor could use both hands. The Thunder god sighed as tiny claws found a secure hold on his skin and (clean but still-matted) beard, then climbed back up, lifting Loki to solid ground as soon as it was in reach before he pulled himself the rest of the way up. Still seated at the edge, he untied the clothing items and dressed himself once more. "That was scary." he sighed deeply.

_You're telling me Thor! Plus side, I now know I can indeed teleport. Minus side… I wasn't even aware I was doing it!_

Okay… Calm down. All things considered this was a positive, Loki had not been able to do this before! So while his body was still growing his magic was still growing at least. Hopefully he would have enough for something useful soon.

"I think we should head home." Thor stated as he stood up then picked up Loki, gently rubbing his ears. "That's enough excitement for one day don't you think?"

Loki nodded still kind of shocked.

"You are growing to big for the pocket." Thor pointed out, slightly amused. "Well, I suppose that just means you have to walk yourself soon enough."

Loki didn't mind, it was a nice feeling to have his body steadily grow stronger and more capable, he couldn't say he was a fan of being small as a mouse. And of course, as he grew stronger his magic would, too… Hopefully.

* * *

They made their way back toward Thor's house. Just before they entered Thor halted, he looked down… towards the village.

Loki was quiet.

"Maybe… maybe we should" Thor swallowed. "Go see if… If maybe. They have caught some fish you can have, huh?" he asked.

Loki was quiet, he didn't dare jinx this. Would Thor actually go down there?

_Come on you oaf, you can do this! I swear if you go down there I'll let you finish your sitcom tonight._

Thor took a deep breath, let it out in a deep sigh, and then did it. He turned from his door, and started to walk down the path to the village. When they finally reached it,Thor pulled up the scarf to cover his face and bowed his head to make himself as small as possible.

This was… good. Super weird, but good.

Thor! Thor who always walked with his head high, and chest puffed out. Thor, who was as loud as possible and adored all the attention. Thor who was now doing everything he could to avoid being seen, almost hiding in the corners.

Super weird, indeed.

Finally they made it to the harbor and found Valkyrie, observing the boat coming in. Thor took a deep breath then started to walk towards her, steeling himself. Valkyrie turned her head as they approached, and she gasped.

"Erhm.." Thor halted. "I was just… Ra-Ragnar needs fish. You know how he is, he only eat fresh meat and I erhm. I just… I was wondering how things were going here and I… I just wanted to check on it and erhm..."

Valkyries eyes were misty, she walked towards Thor and then, without a word, she hugged him tight.

Thor blinked in shock as Valkyrie released him and took a step back.

"Of course, I'll show you." Valkyrie smiled drying a tear away from her eye. "Uh! And Ragnar, of course." she added when she saw the cat in Thor's arms. "Hey sweetie." she gave him a pet.

Thor smiled lightly at that, then he looked up, and toward the incoming boat. "Is… Is there something I can do?" he asked. "Do you need help?"

"No that's.." Valkyrie halted at the sight of Thor's hopeless eyes. "Could you help me carry some crates?" she asked.

Thor nodded.

Valkyrie smiled. "Thank you, Thor. I appreciate it. Come on. I'll show you where they are and where they need to go."

And Thor sighed, relieved, as he followed Valkyrie to some crates where Loki was finally put down and Thor began the work of moving them. There were more than a dozen of the big heavy crates - child's play for a Thunder God, but… he looked more relaxed, more content. It was clear. Thor needed to just do _something._ Anything!

And Loki was glad to see that Valkyrie was smart enough to see this.

Loki sighed, satisfied with the day, then his smile faltered… Only nine months left. They were making progress, but was it enough?

Only one chance... Or those souls would all be lost forever. And so would Thor.

It was something Loki had realized, looking at Thor's desperately worried face on that cliff: whether he was cat or humanoid, Thor _needed_ him here! It was true. Thus he could not leave. If he failed, Hela would take him back and Thor would be lost. He could not allow it to happen, he had to figure this out… he just had to.


	9. Thors return

Loki's attempts at magic were… Hit and miss.

And by that the reality was… Loki had no control whatsoever over what he was doing or how he was doing it.

It was beyond annoying! Once again he had been set back by this stupid body. Anything that could help him get control was denied to him. He had no voice to mutter spells, he had no hands or arms to make gestures with, and he had no items which could help him focus his magic or create specific results. Worst of all, when he had been alive with his _real_ body he had been so advanced that he really hadn't needed any of those things unless the magic was very advanced!

Back in the day, he could conjure up any glamour without moving a muscle! He didn't need to whisper words to read minds nor did he need crude magical amulets to change shape or teleport. He could do most of those things with just a hand gesture.

Now… All Loki could do was releasing small bursts of magic, but he had _no_ control over what it did! Just as annoying, he could only do it once every few hours. His magic would depleted after just that one burst… Also Loki was starting to get more than a little cautious about it.

First, there was the random teleportation. Sure, he never went that far away, and hadn't ended up halfway down a cliff again, but... he had ended up on the roof with _no_ idea how to get back down again! He had accidentally frozen his own pillow solid… and no one had noticed, thanks guys! He had created a big flash of light blinding himself, and Thor had been asleep so he hadn't really noticed.

The inconvenience of random results was bad enough, but that literally _no one_ even noticed... It seemed like the world was just out to prevent Loki in making contact with the big oaf. Perhaps this was Hela fucking with him?

Loki would not put it past her… Not since she had send him back like this.

Or perhaps it was just his usual terrible luck. Loki honestly had a difficult remembering a time where _anything_ went _right_ for him anyway.

Well, he persevered in trying to control his magic, and continued to walk with Thor. He wouldn't let the Thunderer skip a day, and Thor started to go to the village to check on it once in a while. He wouldn't do it every day, but once in a while was enough for now.

Every time, though, Thor would still do his best to not be noticed. Every time, he would ask Valkyrie if there was something he could do, and Valkyrie would give him a job… An easy one, far beneath one of Thor's stature and skill but it didn't matter. Thor's pure relief at being useful was equally big each time, though he would only work when no one saw him. If an Asgardian came by, Thor would turn around to hide his face, blushing deeply or perhaps go around a corner until the people were gone. This couldn't go on though. Thor had to talk to them some day.

Besides, he didn't look so bad anymore; his beard was short and normal now. On one of their walks to the Midgardian city, Loki had stopped outside of a hair dresser and meowed very loudly until Thor had finally given in and gotten that awful hair cut. It was back to being short - somewhat shorter than usual, even, but as far as Loki was concerned that was way better than that yarn gettup.

Thor was still heavier than he had been before, but when he was wearing a coat it honestly wasn't that noticeable. Maybe he _had_ lost some weight, too. Loki wasn't sure. But they had been walking every day and he hadn't been allowed to drink… Thanks to Loki. So it was very plausible. Nobody had really been weighing him or anything.

Eight months… they had eight months. Was the progress enough or was this entire enterprise just laughable?

He needed to make Thor ready to face the past… What did that mean though?! Was Thor supposed to see visions of the past? Retread old roads? Would an old friend reappear? An ex-girlfriend maybe?

Why did Hela have to be so stupidly vague about any of this?

Loki was grumbling over all of this as he was laying on a box, watching Thor move crates once again.

Well it was a good workout at least, even if Thor started to look rather hopeless. His eyes were growing misty and he had to wipe them with the back of his hand.

Loki sighed, well this meant Thor was probably going to be done for today.

Just then, a couple of kids came running around the corner, laughing and chasing each other. Thor gasped as he turned around and lifted up his hood to cover his face.

"KITTY!" One of the children shouted, catching sight of Loki and suddenly Loki was nearly attacked by the kids, four of them total! _Hey! HEY LET GO!_ Loki hissed at them, showing teeth and started to swipe making the children gasp and step back, shocked.

"Careful!" Thor came running picking up Loki. "He doesn't do well with strangers! You need to be careful so you don't get hurt!"

The children all halted, Thor's eyes widened as he looked at them then he turned his head away.

"Ki… King Thor?" A girl with blond hair asked.

Thor halted slightly then turned back, then finally offered them a nod.

They all gaped and Thor looked wide-eyed at them for a moment, then looking down as he held Loki close, turning his head away before a shout.

"You're okay!"

"I told you! I told you!" A cheer sounded and happy laughter as the children flocked him.

Thor blinked as he looked down at the children in surprise.

"How is your wound, is it okay?" Another girl asked.

"My… My wound?" Thor asked.

"That's what my mom said." A boy with bright red hair informed him. "She said you had been wounded when you battled Thanos and that's why you have to rest!"

"Oh." Thor blinked. "Well, that's… I mean."

"No way! King Thor is the strongest warrior in the universe!" The other boy proclaimed. "Right my king?!"

"Well, no.. Not exactly." Thor swallowed.

The four children all looked at him and Thor sighed. He put Loki back on the box he'd been lounging on before the interruption, before he knelt in front of the children.

"No, I am not the strongest." Thor breathed. "I couldn't defeat Malekith, not by myself. Neither could I even touch Hela. I was no match for Thanos. I couldn't stop either of them from killing…. " he took in a breath. "Our people."

Wide-eyed all four children looked at him.

"It was my sworn duty to protect you." Thor breathed. "To protect your friends and family, and I failed in my duty. I'm sorry." he looked down.

The blond girl wide-eyed looked at Thor then she stepped forward until she was right in front of him and Thor looked up, meeting her blue eyes.

Then she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Thor's neck in a tight hug and Thor's eyes widened.

"It's okay." The girl sniffed. "things are really scary, but you're always looking over us right? Like Valkyrie says."

Thor's eyes watered, a sob escaped his mouth then he wrapped his strong arms around the girl and hugged her back. Still holding her up in his arms, Thor stood up, and took the girl with him, tossing her gently in the air and catching her again. The girl screamed in delight. "Higher! HIGHER MY KING!"

Thor smiled.

Loki breath hitched… The smile. Was it really...?

Thor swung the girl around and she laughed, Thor's smile growing to grin as well, and his eyes! There was a certain shine in his eyes.

The other three children crowded around and suddenly Thor was a living climbing tower with boys hanging from both his arms, a girl on his back and a girl in front and all laughing in joy. And then it came… That deep rumbling laughter and it was _real!_

Thor! Finally! This was the real actual Thor!

The children all attacked Thor and Thor pretended like they totally had the upper hand getting him down on the ground where they all puppy-piled him and Thor laughed, then he sat up and hugged them again. His eyes wet as he sniffed.

"Look." Thor gasped. "I… I'm not the strongest in the universe. There are forces out there much stronger than me. I can't promise I will always be able to protect you but… For as long as I can still stand, for as long as I am alive. I am going to try. Okay?" he asked.

The children all nodded.

"I… I'm going to try." Thor sobbed. "I am going to do what I can, that's… That's the reason I am here." he sniffed. "That's what a king is for."

And the children hugged him, now more quietly as Thor held them and cried softly.

Loki sighed deeply. Yes… They had done it.

Thor was going to try, and he was going to give it all he had. Because that was who Thor was.

_Eight months, we got a lot of work to do. But it's possible. Come on Thor! Fight, I need you to fight._

* * *

The next day, without any prompting from Loki, Thor was outside doing push-ups. His entire body was covered in sweat and he was gasping for breath but kept going.

That was the sight which greeted Valkyrie when she arrived. "Thor?" she gasped.

"Valkyrie." Thor hissed between push ups. "I have been selfish."

"No, Thor that..." Valkyrie tried.

"This isn't about me! It's about them!" Thor panted. "My people! I am all they have! I am not perfect by any means, but I am all they have! I have to… I must." and he kept going.

Valkyrie smiled softly. "Don't push yourself too hard today, okay?" she asked.

"O… kay." was all Thor managed to get over his lips as he finally collapsed.

"Thor?" Valkyrie asked.

"That… Used to be much easier." Thor gasped deeply for air as he took a moment to enjoy the coolness of the ground beneath his cheek.

Amused Valkyrie shook her head. "You're out of shape. It'll become easier again if you keep it up." she assured him.

Thor just nodded as he tried to catch his breath. Valkyrie looked up and was not at all surprised to see a black cat with shining green eyes sitting not far from them, observing them. That cat had seemingly never left Thor's side ever since he entered their life. Valkyrie offered it a smile, it nodded back at her. Not for the first time, Valkyrie had to wonder if that cat was fully aware of everything that was going on around it.

It didn't matter though. Ragnar had been so good for Thor and now they were here! Thor was honest to god getting better!


	10. Thors plan

"You  _ have _ to be the most spoiled cat in the known universe." Valkyrie commented looking at the black cat in front of her.

_ First of Valkyrie, I am no mere cat. I am a prince and a god! I am really doing you all a favor by allowing myself to sink this low. _ was Loki's mental reply as he was laying on a genuine silk pillow right in front of a roaring fire place and not very far away from him was a plate with fresh prime rib he couldn't be bothered to finish.

Outside the cozy house, snow was falling and covered the ground in a thick layer. It had been six months since Loki had been returned to earth, which meant half their time was up.

Loki was now more of a young cat than a kitten, thank the Norns, no more pockets or similar for him.

Thor had  _ definitely  _ lost weight, there was still some tub, but it really wasn't that obvious. You really had to hand it to Thor, he had  _ always  _ been incredibly stubborn. When he had set his mind upon something, he would always do it, no matter how foolish the errand was and how many times Loki told him he would hurt himself.

So many times… So many times Loki had warned Thor he would hurt himself, but Thor hadn't listened then what had happened?! He would get hurt.

But he would also laugh it off.

That Thor was no longer here. The current Thor was still rather timid and didn't like attention, but a familiar light had slowly returned to his eyes. Not always, not every single day. But often enough. Slowly, he started to get more involved with the business of New Asgard, and that more than anything seemed to help him. Loki couldn't hope for the reckless, brash Thor of their youth to return, but he did hope for the confident, optimistic Thor to find his way back.

It was something Loki hadn't really thought about before, but he now realized… Thor had a need to be useful.

He had been the same when they were young. He always needed to be a part of something, to help or lead a group towards a goal. If he didn't have a goal he would get frustrated and restless. Reckless.

Or.. In this most recent case, hopeless. Thor had a need… to be of use, to be  _ needed _ . Leaving him alone in a hut had probably been the worst thing Valkyrie could have done for him.

Not that Loki blamed her or anything. Thor had shut himself away, not anyone else. Thankfully though, Thor had now found his goal, the place he was needed. It was right here.

He needed to be strong so he could protect what remained of his people.

Sometime he would still break down and cry, ask why he even bothered to train. He hadn't been strong enough the other times after all, why should this be any different?!

At those times, Loki would stand right in front of him, give him that stern look and scold him - not that his words were understood. Still, even as Thor sobbed, he would actually pick himself up and continue. "No." Thor would hiss. "I must… I have to… They need me."

_ You've got no idea Thor… If what Hela says is true, we got one shot. Just the one! To save the other half. _

_ I wish I could help more… Be a part of it. _

Loki sighed deeply. Part him started to speculate if maybe it was for the better that Thor never managed to figure out who he was. If this body was a true Midgardian cat how many years would he have? Twenty at most before Thor would be forced to say goodbye again.  _ Perhaps  _ his magic could keep him alive for longer, but that was a big perhaps. Would Thor be able to go through that? Again?  
  
Thor  _ was  _ doing better now, he was moving on. This was good! It would be better if Thor managed to figure things out without…. without Loki.

Loki swallowed, hated that his eyes were wet.

Just then the door opened and the Thunder god himself appeared, snow in his blond hair and cheeks bright red from the cold as well as his run in the snow.

"Hey Valkyrie." Thor smiled a kind smile as he started to unwrap himself from the big woolen scarf.

"Ragnar not with you on the run these days?" Valkyrie asked with a smile.

"I think he's getting lazy." Thor admitted. "Or he doesn't like snow." he shrugged.

Loki stretched and rolled over. Thor didn't need him as much anymore; that was the real reason… then he glanced down. Thor didn't need him as much…

"Cats are usually not fans of snow." Valkyrie admitted. "I'm glad to see you're keeping it up."

"If I don't Ragnar complains." Thor smirked amused as he took off his coat then bowed down to untie his boots. "Besides… " he sighed. "I was among the half that wasn't taken by the snap. There must be a reason right? I am supposed to protect what remains… I… I'm the only one who survived it all. So, I… I have to." he halted and shook his head. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Valkyrie assured.

Finally Thor was done with the boots and came to the living room as well. "I'm glad you're here Val, listen I have an idea!"

"Oh?" Valkyrie asked.

"Well you see, Winter Solstice is coming up next month right?" Thor asked. "Midgard has their own version of it, and several different holidays around it. So many different traditions, can you believe it? Here's the thing though, while on Asgard winter solstice just means a massive feast, here on Midgard, they give gifts! Mostly to the children. We should get all the children of New Asgard gifts!"

Valkyrie smiled amused. "What made you come up with that idea?" she asked.

"The children, they are the ones it is all about." Thor stated. "Sadly though, there's so many of them who lost their parents. Most of them are orphans now. The adults are doing their best to take care of them but you know, they barely ever get anything nice or you know, get to wish for anything. So, let's get them something they actually want! Make a list! Ask each of them what they  _ really  _ want! A special dress, a toy. Something nice! And let's do our best to get it for them."

Valkyrie looked sadly at him. "Thor, it's a very nice idea but… We don't have a lot of money. Where would we get the money from?"

"I still have friends here on earth." Thor smiled softly. "And I have yet to call in any favors, I doubt my friends would turn down children getting something to brighten their day."

"You would ask your friends for that?" Valkyrie asked. "Your refused to ask when you were… you know." she swallowed. "Stuck in the house. And you refused to ask when we were building the city, you said it needed to be our own city. But you would call for this?"

"This is different. This is not for me." Thor stated. "And yes, as proud Asgardians, we needed to make the city our own. Again though, this is not about that."

Valkyrie shook her head. "All right. So do you want me to ask each of the children what they wish for winter solstice?"

"If you would." Thor asked. "And make sure to find out what they  _ truly  _ want. I know Torkild wants a sword! Need to make it a small one though, and not sharp! Just one for practice okay. And Sigrid, she really wants a dress like the ladies in waiting used to wear at Asgard, she wants it to be purple! Solveig, she wants a sledge. Though I have been thinking, perhaps getting a couple of sledges now they can all share between them. I mean there is snow  _ now,  _ and we could also use sledges to transport crates! So maybe let the fishers use them until afternoon and then the kids can use them after!"

Valkyrie smiled amused. "Maybe we don't need to ask them, you seem to already know."

"I don't know about all of them." Thor sighed deeply. "And some of them might be difficult. Brygul..." he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh, what does he want?" Valkyrie asked.

"He wants to learn magic." Thor sighed deeply making Loki lift his head. "But… We have no sorcerers or sorceresses! They were the first ones Hela killed. And we have no books; Asgard's library was destroyed! I… I wish I could help him. But I don't know what to do."

"Doesn't… Midgard have sorcerers?" Valkyrie asked and Lokis ears twitched.

"Aye. But I got no idea where to find them." Thor sighed. "And even if I did know how to find them, sorcerers are not really known for their willingness to share their own secrets."

Valkyrie nodded.

"It also made me realize," Thor sighed, "all that knowledge… Lost." he looked towards the window. "We are supposed to deliver our knowledge to the young ones, but… there's no one left to teach it. I really messed up growing up! My mother tried to teach me magic but I was to busy wanting to be a warrior."

"Thor it's not your fault." Valkyrie assured. "I don't know any magic either."

"Well." Thor sighed scratching his neck. "I suppose it won't help any to keep thinking about it now." he admitted. "Perhaps there are others, on Alfheim or something who has some books. Or someone who remembers." he crossed his arms. "Without the Bifrost though, it would take so long to even get there."

"You really want to give Brygul at least something huh?" Valkyrie asked.

"He had that look in his eyes." Thor admitted. "Like Loki had when he discovered new magic he wanted to learn… And the same way of pleading." he shook his head.

_ Brygul…?  _ Loki wondered, searching his memory.  _ Oh, right. The red haired boy. So he wants to learn about magic? _

And Thor was right. If they wanted their history to survive they  _ had  _ to teach the children!

Dammit! Loki could teach the child! He knew all the tricks….  _ But he was still stuck as a cat!  _ Urgh!

"I'm going to take a shower Val." Thor informed. "You just do what you want."

"Don't I always?" Valkyrie asked as she leaned back against the wall as Thor left. "Huh… Gifts for the children? That actually is a really good idea." she asked herself, and nodded, reaching forward to scratch Loki behind the ear. "What do you say kitty?"

_ Well, Valkyrie… I need to figure a way to speak, at the very least. You need knowledge, I have knowledge _ .

He sighed deeply… He had been with Thor for five months now which probably also meant that when Thor finally figured out Ragnar and Loki had been one and the same all along, he was going to be  _ pissed.  _

Oh well, at least Loki could have a bit of fun until the time came.


	11. An old friend

Thor sucked in a breath as he was sitting on his couch looking at the device in his hand… A telephone.

And in it, there was coded numbers to get in contact with… Well, his friends on Midgard.

Tony had taught him how to use this thing… Tony.

Thor closed his eyes. He had not seen the man in over four years. Ever since the Thanos fiasco he hadn't dared.

The last time they had seen each other they had been shouting at each other. Tony yelling about Thor being a dumbass for just killing Thanos without thinking, and Thor who was still in deep shock over his own actions, desperately yelling about what else he was supposed to do.

Tony had a point though… Thor had been a fool. If there had been any chance at fixing the snap… Thor had destroyed it that day.

But this wasn't about that. It was about something else, Norns give him strength.

Ragnar was laying so calmly on Thor's lap, that he relaxed enough to allow his hand to glide down the cats back before returning his attention to the phone, and finally… Pressed the button.

It rang. It seemed to be ringing for a long time. Thor sighed. Tony was not going to pick up, why would he? They had stopped being friends a long time ago.

Then suddenly the phone was picked up and Thor's eyes widened as Tony's face appeared on the screen. He too looked surprised.

For a moment the two looked at each other, there was silence.

"Erhm," Tony hesitated. "Thor… Did you... Call me?" he asked.

Thor nodded, "I did."

"Oh." Tony blinked, "Okay."

Again there was quiet.

"Was there a reason you called me?" Tony asked.

Thor sighed deeply. "Tony I…" he halted. "I erhm. I have… A favor to ask"

At once Tony's face was painted with suspicion, his eyes narrowed in mistrust. He looked like he was ready to hang up.

"Just hear me out!" Thor exclaimed. "Please," he added.

"This better be good," Tony stated. "And if this has _anything_ to do with dressing up and do hero business then it's a big no! I don't do that anymore!"

"It's not that!" Thor assured.

"You need money?" Tony asked in a snort. "Take a million, take two! Just leave me alone."

"Tony." Thor sighed. "I don't want you to give me money just to..." he sighed. "It's not for me either."

"So it _is_ money?" Tony stated. "Of course it is, if it isn't special favors it is always money."

"Winter solstice is coming up," Thor explained. "The holiday you call Christmas? Well… We have a lot of children here… Children with no parents left. What remains of Asgard is taking care of them together, but still. I just, I wanted to give them something nice this solstice. Each one of them, one present each. That's all."

Tony blinked. "You… Want to give all the child refuges of your city, most of whom are also orphans, Christmas presents but you lack money?"

Thor nodded. "Yes, that sums it up."

Tony groaned. "Why didn't you just start with that? Now I feel like a fucking asshole."

"Oh." Thor blinked. "I'm sorry."

"Please stop, you are making me feel even worse." Tony groaned. "Of course I'll help out, money is easy for me."

Thor smiled weakly. "Thank you Tony, it is going to mean a lot to the children. They don't have much, but they are really doing their best pulling through."

"Well… That's. Good I suppose." Tony hesitated.

This was awkward. Really awkward.

"So erhm," Thor hesitated. "How are you doing these days?"

"Pretty good… All things considered." Tony replied in an equally awkward way.

Thor nodded. "Ah, good. Good."

"And you?" Tony asked.

"Well I… erhm." Thor hesitated. "I am… Pretty good to." he informed.

Ones again there was silence.

"By the way Tony." Thor hesitated a moment before continuing, "Do you know how to come in contact with the sorcerers on Midgard?"

"No clue!" Tony stated. "I had no idea we even had wizards until Mister Cape showed up out of nowhere through a weird portal!"

"Oh," Thor said. "Do you think you know someone who might know?"

"No idea. I know a lot of people; I just don't really care for most of them anymore." Tony replied.

"Right." Thor sighed deeply as the cat on his lap made a sound.

Tony blinked. "Dude your cat is giving me the stink eye."

"Ragnar doesn't like new people," Thor informed him in a tired voice.

"Right." Tony halted then looked back at Thor. "Do you still have your Avengers card?" he asked.

"No Tony." Thor sighed; weary at having to explain something so painful, when it should have been readily apparent, what with the way the Asgardians had arrived on Midgard. "It was at Asgard, which was destroyed, cataclysmically. Therefore, I really didn't have time to pick up any personal belongings before everything literately went into flames."

Looking slightly discomfited, Tony said, "Ah. Well listen, I am going to send you another card then, it is going to work like your old Avengers card and will have unlimited funds." Tony stated. "Though, I _will_ be able to see just how much money you spend and what you're buying. So don't abuse it."

"I won't." Thor assured, with a thankful smile. "Thank you Tony. You are making a great difference!"

Tony sighed. "Well, I'm glad I get to feel good about _something_ these days."

"Indeed," Thor echoed both Tony's melancholy, and sigh. "Erhm, Tony. Listen I know we… Last time we saw each other, it wasn't good." Thor took a deep breath, continuing with a sad smile, "Regardless, it _is_ good seeing you. I'm glad you're doing okay."

A slightly defeated look flashed for an instance across Tony's features, before he shook his head banishing it. "It's good seeing you to buddy." he finally admitted. "I'm glad you're doing okay to."

Thor smiled lightly.

"You are doing okay right?" Tony now asked, peering at him more closely.

"I am doing better." Thor informed. "I'm still very messed up, but I am better my friend."

"Heh, now that sounds really relatable." Tony admitted.

"Look, about the thing that happened..." Thor began.

"Stop." Tony interrupted. "Look... Whether killing Thanos was a mistake or not, I still don't have any clue if I'm honest… Besides, it's in the past. There's no changing it now, and no point being hung up about it."

Thor's eyes were wide.

"You were hurt... Very... Very hurt. And it was Thanos who did it, hurt you so bad. I could see it on you when you looked at him. How much he hurt you... I get it." Tony assured him, in a tired voice. "He hurt all of us."

Thor closed his eyes. "Aye."

"I... it hurt a lot." Tony breathed. "So I took my own hurt out on you, like you took it out of Thanos."

Taking a deep breath, blinking back the tears that rose to his eyes, and not trusting his voice at the moment, Thor nodded.

"So... No hard feelings?" Tony asked.

Thor shook his head, trying to smile reassuringly. "No." he said, with a voice that was only slightly watery.

Tony's return smile was equally wobbly, but then a noise in the background caused him to say, "Sorry, I gotta go. Kid is yelling, need to make sure she's okay."

"Kid?" Thor blinked.

"Oh." Tony realized. "Yeah." he smiled and this smile, while soft, was genuine and reached all the way to his eyes. "She just turned four and she's perfect." Unlike previously, the deep sigh that accompanied this speech was contented.

"That's really good to hear." Thor smiled back warmly, glad that to see his former shield brother had something that made him happy, despite all that had occurred. "Thank you again for your assistance."

"Yeah. No problem," Tony replied. "You'll get that card in a week, max promise. I... I'm actually glad I got to help. See you." And then the screen cleared as the call ended.

Thor leaned back, suddenly exhausted from the conversation. Still, it had gone a lot better than he had feared.


	12. Winter Solstice

Loki sighed deeply. He could not help but notice the irony. He had spend so many years of his life resenting Thor, legitimately believing that Thor was selfish and only thought about himself. Granted, he'd had reasons to think so, but now Loki really had to eat his own words. Over and over.

The look in Thor's eyes was so hopeless as he was down on his knees talking to a red haired boy. "Wouldn't a dagger be neat?" he hopelessly tried. "With a golden handle and protective runes?"

Brygul, the boy with red hair looked at Thor, his eyes desperate and slightly wet. "How do you make an acorn into a tree in just a minute?" he asked. "They did it all the time at Asgard!"

"I know I..." Thor halted.

"Wouldn't it be good if I knew how to close a wound with magic?" Brygul asked. "Or make a small flame?"

"That would be amazing!" Thor stated. "I would love to see it!"

"Then why won't anyone teach me?!" Brygul asked.

The look on Thor's face told the entire story: there was nothing Thor wanted more in the world than to give Brygul what he wanted. If he hadn't been just as frustrated as the child, Loki would have been utterly smug at Thor _finally_ having it rubbed in his face that magic was more than just the 'tricks' he'd always accused Loki of. But he just couldn't. Not now.

"You said to me I should tell what I wanted the most, in the whole world!" Brygul exclaimed.

"I know, I know!" Thor assured. "And it's not that..." he sighed. "Isn't there, anything else?"

" _No_." Brygul informed, impressing even Loki just slightly with his stubbornness.

Thor closed his eyes. "Okay. I'll see what can be done. It's just." he looked up. "What is the thing you want second most?" he asked.

Brygul looked really annoyed by that, Loki did not blame him. It was very obvious what Thor tried to do here.

Thor tried, tried to give Brygul an encouraging smile, but it was very forced… Very awkward.

"A dagger would be neat… I suppose." Brygul looked down.

Thor's eyes were so pained, he really looked like an overgrown puppy dog. Why did Loki feel so bad for him? Thor had wasted the centuries of opportunity he'd had to learn even the most basic tenets of magic. And yet, instead of vindication, Loki felt only pity for Thor.

"Okay." Thor sighed deeply as he stood up. "Right, thanks Brygul." he put a hand on the childs head slightly ruffling up his red hair, but ones again the whole thing was so awkward and finally Brygul moved on as Thor sighed.

Just then his phone rang and Thor picked up, the face of Tony appearing. "Oh, hello Tony."

Tony frowned. "Thor, I got a bone to pick with you."

"Oh." Thor blinked. "Did… Did I spend to much. I'm sorry if it was excessive I just."

"Not at all, in fact you spend way less than I thought you would. That's not the issue." Tony stated. "The items though, the hell? 500 kilo of iron. 300 kilo of purified steel. Fifty beams of solid ebony wood. Yards of cloth…. Bars of silver?!" he looked up. "The hell is this?"

Thor looked confused. "How else are we supposed to make swords, daggers, dresses, bows and all of that?" he asked.

"That's what you're giving the kids?" Tony asked.

"Yes." Thor replied still as confused.

"What the hell happened to tablets, playstations and video games huh?" Tony asked.

"It's not what they wanted." Thor replied. "We do have a few playstations in the city but the kids are not that big fans of them." he halted. "Which is probably for the better." he admitted, embarrassed as he remembering his own addiction.

Tony looked at Thor. "Is it normal for you people to give children weapons?" he asked.

"Yes." Thor replied honestly. "I only went to my father's knee when I was given my first short sword. In Asgard, to be a warrior is the most prestigious thing you can be and children train to be warriors from an early age."

Tony sighed deeply. "Fine, clearly you have your own ways. Do what you want." he asked.

Thor silenced, clearly struggling not knowing if he was supposed to apologize or something else.

"Don't give me that look. Honestly, I was just super confused." Tony informed Thor. "I really thought you meant Barbie dolls and Playstations. I think I should have considered you guys are literally from another planet."

Thor smiled amused. "Thank you Tony… Erhm, look I know I asked about Midgard Sorceress ones all ready. But are you _really_ sure you don't know someone who.. You know." he tried.

"Yes Thor! I am sure!" Tony informed. "My friend list involves androids, mutants, a World War II veteran frozen in ice. A dude whom could shrink himself down to the size of an ant, and also I know a talking raccoon now! But no magic mumbo jumbo. Might I tempt you with this blue alien chick? She's also a cyborg by the way."

"That's… That's okay." Thor replied slightly stunned. "Thank you for taking the time."

Tony shrugged. "I didn't really do anything though, did I?" he asked. "Look if I come across something I'll hit you up, 'kay?" he asked. "But don't count on it."

"Okay, thank you anyway." Thor smiled and Tonys face vanished from the screen. For a while Thor just looked emptily at the black screen.

Then Loki had enough and walked over there, butting his head against Thor's leg to snap him out of it.

"Oh, Ragnar." Thor blinked then sighed deeply. "Asgard is not a place, it's a people." he murmured to himself. "But so few are left… " he knelt down beside Loki. "Loki would always lecture me about magic. Why didn't I listen?" he asked.

_I don't know Thor! Why didn't you?_

"Because I was an idiot who didn't know how lucky I was." Thor sighed scratching Loki behind the ear then he stood up and started to walk in the direction of the village, probably to check on some more citizens.

Loki sighed deeply but soon followed, trying to think his way through to a solution… They needed knowledge about Seidr and magic. Loki had knowledge. Thus far he had failed to communicate.

There had to be a way though, his body was bigger now. Stronger. He could figure this out! He was Loki Silvertongue…. Except during this last half year he had kind of lacked a voice.

  
  


* * *

It was the night before their Winter Solstice party. Thor had actually managed it - finding an item for each of the kids, something they wanted.

And yes, it was mostly swords, daggers, specific clothes.

Still, despite that accomplishment, Thor could only sigh as he looked at the dagger he was holding in his hand. The one for Brygul. It was a really nice piece, Loki could see that too.

Sharp steel, silver handle, a moon decoration which was at least typical for mages tools but… It wasn't what Brygul had asked for. And dammit, Thor kept looking so heartbroken as he looked at the stupid dagger. And Loki could only sigh along with him.

Finally Thor went to bed and Loki hissed, okay… All his previous attempts had failed. But this time… He WOULD succeed.

Loki jumped up on the table, he had to use his teeth to drag a piece of paper towards himself then he looked at it. He hadn't been able to control his own magic, yet. But he couldn't afford to keep failing. This time…. he would succeed.

_Come on… Come on_. His eyes narrowed in fierce concentration.

_If this knowledge is not shared it is going to become lost! It's worth it! It will be worth it!_

* * *

The morning of Winter Solstice, Thor woke up with a heavy heart. Brygul was on his mind. All the other kids were going to be so happy. He couldn't bear that one kid would be so disappointed.

What was he supposed to do!? There was no one to teach magic. Thor sat up as he groaned, rubbing his face.

Quietly he dressed himself and walked to the living room. "Ragnar." he called.

There was no response and Thor shook his head; that cat had grown lazy lately. Thor looked at Ragnars pillow and true enough saw the black cat, fast a sleep on his spot. Thor shook his head walking to the counter starting to make coffee.

His elbow touching something, Thor turned his head and blinked by a piece of paper.

Huh, probably something either Val or Korg had left behind. Thor yawned as he picked it up to have a look, his eyes looked over it and he halted.

What in the… No, this wasn't possible! There was no way!

But, it was right there in front of him! How though?! How was this even possible?!

* * *

The children as predicted were in absolute awe!

The ones who had wished for weapons barely even dared touch them, and the ones who had asked for clothes had changed at once.

Brygul though was looking at his dagger, the disappointment in his eyes very clear. Thor walked over to him looking down at the boy. "Look I..." he tried.

"I know." Brygul sighed. "There are no sorcerers left and no books. I asked for too much. I'm sorry I kept going on about it your majesty."

Thor shook his head. "No. It's okay. Listen. I've got one more thing for you."

Brygul looked up. "Huh."

"You have to swear to me, to take really good care of this okay?" Thor asked. "This is important, the most precious thing that will be given today."

Brygul looked confused, also kind of scared.

Then from his pocket Thor pulled a piece of paper and handed it to Brygul.

Brygul looked questionable at him but accepted, then looked at it and his eyes widened. "This is...?"

"How to make an illusion." Thor nodded. "Aye, my mother's special talent which she taught my brother! This is only the most basic, but it is a starting point. I am counting on you to re-discover this art."

Wide-eyed Brygul looked up. "You mean...?" he asked, almost in tears.

"Keep it safe." Thor asked. "And use it well."

Brygul's eyes overflowed as he ran forward and grabbed Thor's leg, hugging it tightly, too full of tremulous joy to speak. Thor smiled warmly, patting the boy on the head.

* * *

It was a glorious feast. Of course it could not even compare to any of the feasts of old Asgard - they no longer had the luxury of wasting things like that or the resources for opulent over abundance. But it was a good night and Thor was smiling as he walked back home, shaking the snow from his boots as he entered only to halt as he looked at the pillow.

"Seriously Ragnar?" Thor asked. "You haven't even moved? _All_ day?!" he shook his head fondly. The cat honestly looked more dead than alive the way he was sprawled bonelessly across his pillow. When Thor walked over and picked him up, he was like a rag doll in Thor's hands, barely complaining in a groggy meow.

"You've over eaten haven't you?" Thor asked then sighed. "Valkyrie is right, I've been spoiling you way to much."

"Meoooow." Sounded the exhausted cat reply.

"Don't complain, you've been sleeping all day." Thor rolled his eyes.

The cat didn't respond anymore, it just looked super annoyed and Thor smirked as he shook his head and gently stroked Ragnar's back.

* * *

Bitching at the Norns - <https://archiveofourown.org/works/26081542>

_An AMAZING piece of fanart has been created by RenneMichaels whom is also a fanfic writer on this very site. She REALLY needs applause for this, this is utterly amazing. And you can go check out her account. I believe there's some Loki goodies there as well._   
  



	13. Good news

Four months and two weeks, all that remained before the man who talks to ants were supposed to arrive. Winter Solstice celebrations were long past, and they were well into that dreary month called January on Asgard.

It was cold… It was dark… It was wet. There was no party to look forward to. It sucked.

At the same time though, the clock was ticking. It was so easy to just call it a day these days, stay inside by the roaring fire and eat some more shrimp. But Loki still had a job to do.

And when Thor got lazy, Loki would do his thing: stand by the door and meow loudly until Thor went out for his damn training session! And yes, if Loki had to, he would follow him out there… In the snow. Snow that made it extra hard for him to move around.

All though Loki had grown bigger, he still wasn't, you know. BIG!

Still, being outside for some hours did make going _inside_ to the fire feel so much better. Also it helped distracting Loki. Four months and two weeks. That was all the time he had to prepare. Something was going to happen and if Thor wasn't ready, who knows what could happen.

That Hela would take Loki back immediately was the least of his problems.

Loki sighed deeply, he had so much more to give! So much he could teach. He was scared about revealing himself to Thor at this point, yet at the same time... He had things he wanted to say.

_It wasn't your fault Thor… It really wasn't. I see that now. Not any of what happened, and I want you to know that._

He sighed deeply as he lay beside Thor just as Thor's phone rang and the Thunderer jumped surprised as he pulled out the phone.

"Tony?" Thor asked obviously surprised.

"Yeah, hey." Tony waved a hand.

Thor smiled, honestly happily surprised. "To what do I owe the pleasure my friend?"

"Well, remember when I promised I would say something if I got wind of some magic users?" Tony asked.

Thor sat up immediately.

"Well, you see." Tony began. "I was invited to this grand opening of a museum thing, history museum. Basically they display really old stuff dug up across continents. I didn't go, I stopped going to any of these things."

Thor waited patiently for Tony to get to the point. Loki just as lazily looked at the screen, ignoring the tension building inside.

"Anyway, I did look at some pictures and that's what I saw." Tony changed to screen so it showed a picture of a museum, several artifacts on display and lots of people. Loki wasn't impressed. "Look at the far right corner, there's a man. Asian, chubby. Looks like he swallowed a lemon and he is wearing a green bathrobe. I recognize him! That dude was with the cape guy! I invited him to my wedding, he's a wizard!"

Thor's eyes widened. Loki as well got more interested as he looked at the picture again, his eyes going over then suddenly… He halted.

Wait… Was that?

"Was he at your wedding Tony?!" Thor exclaimed.

"No, he just you know. Vanished, had no idea where he went. Thought he might be among the half who didn't make it." Tony informed.

"Meow." Loki began.

"When was this picture taken?" Thor asked.

"Meow!" Loki tried again.

"Dunno, probably at the opening some days ago." Tony replied.

"MEOW!" Loki stood up.

"You think he is still there!?" Thor asked.

"MEOW-MEOW-MEOW!" Loki exclaimed. _Forget about the guy! LOOK you big stupid idiot! They have a genuine Star Stone amulet on display! Do you know what that means?!_ "MEEEEOW!"

"RAGNAR!" Thor exclaimed. "Gesh what's wrong, are you in pain?"

Loki turned putting his paws on Thor. "MEOW!" _We have to get to that museum Thor! That thing is a power source, it contains magic! I can use it! This body doesn't contain enough magic, but that amulet! Maybe that does!_

"Ergh, maybe you should take your cat outside." Tony complained.

"I'm sorry, he's usually not like this." Thor replied as he grabbed Loki and put him down on the floor. "So where's that museum?" he asked and Loki quieted.

"England." Tony replied. "Sheffield."

"Oh that's not so far away." Thor smiled.

"Meow! Meow! Meow!" Loki continued. _Come on Thor! We have to go, and we have to go now! I am sick of this shit okay! I am sick of being stuck like this! Cut off from my magic, cut off from you! Get me to that museum!_ "Meow! Meow! Meow! MEOOOW!"

"Ragnar!" Thor shouted. "Keep quiet or it's outside!"

Loki hissed.

"You asked for this." Thor stated, the next moment Loki was thrown out the door and into the snow right before the door slammed shut before he could run back in.

Loki seethed as he stood outside, the snow reaching him to his belly. _Okay Thor! This means war! We are going to that museum, even if it'll be the last thing I do!_

* * *

And Loki continued, the meows didn't end! Not that day, and not during the night!

Thor being Thor didn't have it in his heart to keep Loki outside durng the night, but neither did he know what to do now when Loki was _inside_ and nothing placated him. Not any of the food, not the pillow. Whenever Thor tried to pet him Loki would hiss and swipe at him.

Then Thor assumed Loki wanted him to go outside, that's what constant meowing usually meant. But as Thor walked outside, Loki stayed inside and kept meowing!

Loki continued doing it late into the night when an exhausted Thor tried to go to bed. Sleep was denied for _anyone_ inside this house.

"Dude what's wrong with the cat?" Korg asked as both him and Thor were up at five in the morning looking at the complaining Loki both covering their ears with their hands.

"I don't know!" Thor cried. "Maybe I should take him to the vet!"

Loki hissed.

"He doesn't seem sick to me." Korg admitted. "He's like a teenage cat right? Maybe he's just in a mood."

"This started when Tony made that call about the museum!" Thor stated.

At ones Loki silenced and looked at Thor.

Thor blinked, for a moment they looked at each other. Right into the eyes.

"The… The museum?" Thor asked.

Loki offered him a nod and Thors eyes widened.

"You… Want me to go to the museum?" Thor asked.

 _NO! I want **us** to go to the museum! There's a major difference here Thor! _And Loki meowed in displeasure.

"That's not it?!" Thor asked. " _You_ want to go to the museum?" he asked.

And Loki quieted again.

Thor and Korg looked at each other.

"Thor… Could you do me a favor and just take the cat to the museum?" Korg asked.

Thor nodded. "A-Aye." he stated. "Okay, Ragnar. We're going to the museum okay. Just let me sleep please, we'll figure out how to get there tomorrow."

And finally Loki offered a satisfied yawn as he stretched his back and walked to his pillow, laying down as if nothing had happened at all.

Thor sighed deeply, running a hand through his hair.

"So going to that museum huh?" Korg asked.

Thor nodded. "I think we all know Ragnar is not a ordinary cat. I am not sure what he is, some sort of guardian. Perhaps a familiar. Someone is having a hand in this." he stated. "Someone who… Could leave instructions on how to do illusions." he swallowed.

"Your mean like your brother?" Korg asked.

Thor nodded. "Korg, I know this sounds insane but.." he halted. "I erhm, ever since Ragnar came I had this feeling that… That Loki is looking over me. Somehow." he admitted. "From the afterlife or I don't know but.. Someone is sending us messages. It might be very hopeful to think it's Loki. I just... it feels nice to think that. I know it's probably delusional! It's insane honestly! But it also makes sense!" he halted. "Korg… Am I going insane?"

The Kronan looked at him, looking at Thor as if he truly was insane. Then finally spoke. "Njaah. You just do you man."

Thor frowned. "You think I am insane."

"No." Korg assured.

"Yes you are!" Thor accused.

"Okay maybe just a little." Korg replied.

"I KNEW IT!" Thor shouted.

"Don't put this on me dude." Korg replied. "You think your dead brother is sending messages from the afterlife, and somehow is using a cat to do it?" he asked. "I mean why a cat?"

Thor glared at him.

"Then I suppose, you guys keep saying you're gods and stuff right?" Korg asked. "I've been around you for a while now, I have yet to really see what makes you gods. Sending messages from the afterlife though. Yeah, that would be pretty godly I must say. So if he really is a god." the stony alien shrugged.

Thor opened his mouth, then he silenced. and Thor sighed as he sat back.

Loki just rolled his eyes. _We are gods because we each embody an element, stupid rock monster. Thunder is in Thor's blood, so he is the god of thunder, stupid._ Of course he couldn't say any of this, but he wanted to.

"Well." Thor groaned glancing at Loki. "Hope you're happy Ragnar. We're going to England."

* * *

Loki was _not_ happy! Yes, Thor had been true to his words and booked tickets to England in the morning.

What Loki hadn't thought about though, was that he was going to be put into a carrier cage!

All of Loki's instincts told him he should refuse this! He should bite and scratch anything trying to put him inside of that blue plastic cage!

But he had no choice, he had to go in there… And now he was stuck in here while Thor just casually carried around with him.

Going on a bus so they could go to a harbor in Sweden and from there take a big boat to England.

Why couldn't Thor just fly?!

Then Loki remembered that Thor would have to _carry_ him while flying across the ocean and that thought was more than just slightly terrifying so Loki settled for the bus ride… and the boat ride… And then a train ride. And he was stuck inside the same plastic cage the entire time.

_This amulet better be the real deal! I swear! If I'm going through all THIS to get to it, it had better be real._


	14. God of Mischief

Finally! After what had seemed like a journey that took _forever!_ They were at the museum!

Thank the Norns!

The journey being so long only made Loki extra annoyed as Thor had to stand in line for a ticket. When he reached the booth, the receptionist looked down at the carrier. "Sir, do you intend to take that cat with you inside?"

Thor halted. "Well… Yes." he admitted.

The receptionist looked stern. "I'm sorry sir, the only animals allowed inside are dogs and they are required to be on a tight leash."

_Well that's just racist, what do you people have against cats?_

"I promise he is going to stay inside the cage!" Thor pleaded.

_Hah, that's what you think Thor._

"I'm sorry sir." The receptionist replied. "I'm afraid you have to come back later. Without the cat."

Thor sighed deeply. "Okay, sorry for the inconvenience." he said as he turned and took Loki with him away from the queue. He walked to a bench and sat down, putting the carrier cage next to him. "Well, I am here. Maybe we don't actually need to go _inside_ of the museum." he commented turning to the cage then he blinked.

The cage was open!

And Loki, was already outside sitting in front of Thor.

"Ragnar?" Thor asked he looked around. "How?" he asked.

And then Loki stood up and just walked between the bars making the fence around the museum.

"RAGNAR!" Thor shouted.

_You can't stop me now Thor! I'm going in!_

"WAIT!" Thor shouted, it was to late. Loki was already out of sight.

* * *

For once Loki's small, slim cat body was useful. Slipping in through a slightly opened window was easy! And so was walking across the panels right under the ceiling where people couldn't reach him. Ah, sweet freedom, it was delightful. Now where was that amulet!

* * *

"No you don't understand!" Thor exclaimed at the people who held him back. "My cat is!"

"Sir, if you wish to come inside you need a ticket! Stand in line like everyone else!" The guard asked.

"But!" Thor tried. It was no use though, they wouldn't let him inside without a ticket. He had to stand in line. Again.

* * *

Useless… Crap… Useless… Just pretty stones so all basically crap… Useless. Loki was looking across all the artifacts in the room beneath him. It looked like this room was a dud, on to the next one.

* * *

Finally! _Finally_ Thor was in the front of the line again and with the same receptionist to! She was blinking. "Where's your cat?" she asked. "You didn't just leave him did you?"

"No!" Thor exclaimed. "He's… Just give me a ticket already." he asked and finally he got one so he could hurry into the museum.

* * *

A Shaman wand? Pfff, Midgardians thought this could do magic? Oh Midgardians were funny! It was just old cow skin tied to a stick. Okay, this room also a dud. Moving on!

* * *

Thor was wildly looking around and he hurried through the rooms. "Ragnar!" he called… No reply. Was Ragnar even in here? Thor sighed. This was useless. Perhaps he should just have waited outside for Ragnar to come back. He wasn't a normal cat after all.

Just then, a figure approached him. "You seemed rather distressed. King Thor."

Thor blinked and turned, to see an Asian man, much shorter than him, wearing a green wizards robe and he gaped. "YOU!" he exclaimed.

The man looked at him. "You know me?" he asked.

"You are a sorcerer right?" Thor asked. "Tony told about you! This is amazing!" he gasped. "I looked for you!"

The Asian man looked at him, slightly lifting an eyebrow. "My name is Wong, and yes, I am indeed a Master of the Mystic Arts." he informed. "For now though, I am occupied. An item that should not be freely on display is. I am here to try and retrieve it safely and without… incidents."

"Oh." Thor blinked. "An item here at the museum?" he asked. "What item is it? I could call up Tony he is very influential, he can probably sort you out."

Wong looked pretty thoughtful then nodded. "Perhaps that is the solution." he admitted. "This amulet is not from our own world, it seems to contain much energy" he gestured at a case behind him.

Thor blinked.

"What?" Wong asked.

"I'm sorry but… That case is empty. There's nothing in there." Thor informed.

Wongs eyes widened and he turned, to true enough see an empty case. "What?!" he asked. "It was… It was right there!"

"Oh." Thor halted. "Is that bad?" he asked then he looked up and he screamed. "RAGNAR!"

Wong looked up and he too gaped, for there above them was a cat… And it was wearing the amulet.

* * *

_Oh yes, this is the ticket!_ Loki could feel the energy flowing into his body. He opened himself up to it, allowing himself to absorb the energy. As an extra bonus, Thor was down there looking like an idiot. This was delightful.

"Ragnar! Come here! Come here kitty!" Thor tried reaching up his arms.

 _Oh, this is going to be fun!_ Loki stood up, then he walked away.

"Wait, wait WAIT!" Thor shouted and Loki started to run.

* * *

What was going on?! Why was Ragnar behaving like this?! Thor was trying to figure it out as he went running through the building pushing people aside, Wong running right next to him.

"You know that cat." Wong observed.

"Well, he's… He lives with me." Thor admitted. "So I guess in a way that's my cat!"

"You do know that is not a normal cat right?" Wong asked.

"I am starting to get a pretty good idea, yes." Thor admitted.

* * *

Loki was laughing as he easily jumped across the tops of glass cases moving through the rooms. When suddenly orange sparks appeared beneath his feet, Loki jumped just as a portal opened. _Not today you party trick magician! I've seen that one before! HAH!_

* * *

Wong's eyes narrowed as his portal had failed and Ragnar had moved on.

"I… I'm so sorry." Thor gasped. "He's usually not like this."

"May I suggest that the next time you bring a cat, you put him on a leash." Wong asked and Thor nodded as they entered another room, this one empty of displays and there… There lounging above them was the cat, wearing the blasted amulet and looking as smug as a cat could possibly look.

Thor sighed deeply. "Ragnar." he asked. "Ragnar please, come here. Come down here." he reached up his hands. "I'll give you all the fresh meat you want okay! And a new pillow, just come on. Come on kitty!"

* * *

Loki smirked from his perch near the ceiling. Thor sure was funny down there. He really hadn't gotten it yet. Loki just grinned as his tail was swaying. Man, he could do this forever. This was fun.

"Come here kitty! Come on." Thor tried.

Well, Loki supposed he may as well. He had been absorbing magic for the last fifteen minutes - it should suffice for now. Loki stood up and stretched his back as he yawned. Oh this was going to feel so good.

"That's right, that's a good kitty Ragnar." Thor called still with his arms up. "Now just come here! Come here Kitty."

 _Oh I'll come down all right, Thor. Think you'll be ready to catch me?_ Loki grinned as he looked down at Thor, his green eyes shining bright as he crouched, staring intently down at Thor. Thor's eyes widened as he to seemed to realize what Loki was about to do. And then Loki jumped!

Aiming straight right for Thor and Thor gaped as a cat came plummeting down towards him. Except, in the few seconds the cat was in mid air, it changed! It grew. Legs became arms, fur retreated to reveal white skin, green robes appeared and long black hair flowed until it was a fully grown Prince of Asgard who heavily landed on Thor sending him straight to the ground on his back with a god of Mischief's knees planted right on his chest, and his face inches away from Thor's face.

"Hello." Loki grinned his green shining eyes locked with Thor's. "Brother."

….

Thor's eyes, were wide in shock! Wong had taken a step back, clearly in shock as well.

"Come now you can't be that surprised." Loki smirked. "It was kind of obvious wasn't it?" he asked. "I mean who else would leave that message huh?"

"Lo… Lo-Loki." Thor stammered. "Loki… Loki."

"Yeah that's my name, you're wearing it out." Loki sighed as he sat back, still sitting on top of Thor though. Then he looked at Wong who raised his hands now sparkling with magic.

"Easy magician, I am not out to do harm." Loki sighed then turned back to Thor who was staring silently at him, mouth agape. "Hey. Hey Thor." he slapped his cheeks. "Come on wake up. Time to get up."

Thor blinked, then finally focused on Loki in wide-eyed confusion.

"Do you have _any_ idea what I had to go through to get here?" Loki asked. "I had to be _born!"_

"What?" Thor asked.

"It was _awful!"_ Loki exclaimed.

Wong frowned. "Hand back the amulet!" he demanded.

"Pff, no." Loki turned to him. "I _need_ it!" he stated.

"No, you don't." Wong stated standing ready to fight.

"Yes I _do!"_ Loki stood up. "Listen! I died, I mean really died. Then I got an offer, be sent back if I just help Thor! What they didn't tell me though, was that I was going to be send back as a fucking _cat_! So I had to be born, _as a cat!_ Grow up! Travel across multiple countries! Again, _while being a four week old cat!_ Get Thor off his ass! And I still don't even know what the end goal is here! So yes! I _need_ it!" he exclaimed, just as a shimmer ran across his body and Loki's eyes widened. "Oh shit."

"Huh, you're not kidding." Wong commented as he relaxed again.

"What, what's happening?!" Thor asked from the floor.

"He already used up the magic he absorbed." Wong informed. "He can't maintain this form any longer."

Loki pouted. "Well it's not my fault that _meow_!" in a blink, the young god had been replaced by a small black cat that looked very pissed. Loki barely had time to register the change before being attacked by an emotional Thunder god.

"LOOOKIIII!" Thor cried as he just grabbed the cat from beside him to hug it in a fierce embrace. "Loki it's you! It's really you! I was right! I can't believe it! You're here! You're really here!" he bawled, crushing the cat in his embrace as tears soaked Loki's fur.

Loki screamed, swiping Thor with claws and teeth as he tried to get out, but to no avail. Thor loosened the hold slightly, but refused to let him go, no matter how he struggled. Thor was just too strong and obviously didn't care at all that his face was now a patchwork of scratch marks. Finally Loki gave up, there was just no fighting this… So he turned into a boneless deadweight in Thor's arms instead.

Wong looked at them and sighed. "Okay, I'll hear you out." he finally said moving his hand and soon a golden portal opened. "Shall we?" he asked.

Thor just nodded, his eyes filled with tears, while Loki hung limp as a rag doll from his embrace. Without a word, Thor stepped through he portal, clinging tightly to Loki who was starting to regret his own actions.


	15. Naked truth

Thor was in quite a state, His mind was all in a whirl and he had yet to let go of Loki. And it also seemed like he hadn't really taken any notice of the room he was now in.

"This… Is Loki." Thor gasped. "Ragnar is Loki.. .Actually Loki! I mean I.. I had speculated that some of Loki's spirit was in Ragnar, but I also thought I had made that up! Or he would be Loki's agent or something, not _actually_ Loki." he rambled. "YOU'RE LOKI!" he held up Loki in front of him.

Loki just looked sullenly back at Thor.

"Wait a minute." Thor gasped. "Then that means, all those things… THOSE WERE CONSCIOUS CHOICES!" he shouted. "You, you tore up my shirt! ON PURPOSE!"

 _That shirt was filthy Thor! I did you a favor that you didn't have to wear it one more time_.

"And the beers and the bloody nachos! You punished me for opening a bag of nachos! It was all on purpose! All this time." Thor gasped. "All this time you were..." then his eyes turned to anger. " _LOKI!_ " he shouted lowering his hands holding Loki. " _You_ were there the entire time! Why didn't you say anything! This is just typically you! You always do this!" he exclaimed in an angry voice.

Then Thor's eyes turned wet, he sniffed and he hugged Loki tight. "You're heeeeeere!" he bawled.

Loki made himself stay limp, allowing Thor to do whatever he wanted. There was no point in even trying to get anything through his brother's thick skull - especailly when he wasn't listening. He just wanted this over with.

"No wait, I am just making this up aren't I?" Thor asked. "I have lost it, you can't be Loki! WONG!"

"No, he is Loki." Wong informed. "I saw it to."

"BY THE ALL FATHER!" Thor shouted in shock. "Why didn't you say anything?!" he asked in an anguished cry.

Loki groaned as he finally had the chance to wriggle out of Thor's hands. He landed heavily on the floor as Thor grabbed his head.

"This can't be happening!" Thor gasped as he wide-eyed looked in front of himself. "Why is this happening! I mean I am happy, I think… But why Loki! Why didn't you just tell me!"

"I TRIED!" A familiar sophisticated voice sounded. "I left messages all around the place but but _you_ didn't see them!"

Thor turned to the couch then his eyes widened by the sight that met him.

"What?" Loki asked now sitting on the couch.

"Lo-Loki." Thors face grew deep red. "Is there a reason that. Ahem." he coughed into his hand. "That you're not wearing any clothes?"

Because yes indeed, Loki was very nonchalantly leaning back on the couch, and he was very… _very_ naked. The only thing he was wearing was that amulet.

Loki pouted. "I recently learned that conjuring clothes is a waste of my very limited magic right now." he simply stated.

Wong cleared his throat, then summoned a green robe into his hands and handed it to Loki.

Loki sighed as he accepted the piece of clothes and threw it on.

"You can keep that." Wong informed in a deadpan tone. "I insist."

Loki smirked amused.

"Okay! Loki! You need to explain to me!" Thor begged. "I don't know what is going on! You… You died. And you said it was for real and… Born? As in.."

"Yes as in literally _born!"_ Loki informed. "I also now got FOUR new sisters and brothers who are indeed cats." he sat back as he groaned deeply.

"Ho-How?" Thor hopelessly tried.

"Hela." Loki groaned rubbing his face.

"What?" Thor asked.

"You know, your _sister._ The goddess of death!" Loki snorted. "Yeah she's ruling Helheim now, and she has realized her true potential it seems." he sighed deeply. "She has great power in the world of the death, but she is barred from the world of the living. All she can do is send agents and well! Hello there!" he spread out his arms.

"You… You work for Hela?" Thor asked.

"You really think I had any choice?" Loki asked. "I'm here aren't I?"

Thor halted, his eyes were filled with so much confusion and even… Tears. Again. Norns help them.

Loki sighed. "Thor look..." he tried. "Yeah, Hela send me with a mission. I am her agent." he admitted.

Thor stiffened.

"Her mission. Well it… In four months, something is supposed to happen." Loki tried to explain. "I.. I am not sure what it is, exactly. But I am supposed to make you ready for it."

There was quiet, Thor's and Wong's eyes on Loki.

"Hela said, there is one chance… Only one. To get everyone back. Everyone who was killed in the snap." Loki informed.

Thor's eyes widened.

"If that chance goes to waste, those souls will be lost. Forever." Loki looked up, meeting Thor's eyes. "There is still a chance to save a couple of hundred of our people." he said. "At least, if Hela wasn't lying to me."

"But… How?" Thor asked. "Thanos is dead! I killed him! The Stones are gone!"

"I don't know what is supposed to happen. I told you that already. I _don't know._ But I had to get you ready for it. Which is _why_ I got you out of those rancid clothes and made you stop being such a disgusting, drunken slob." Loki admitted as blandly as he could. "All I know is it has something to do with a man who talks to ants!" he stood up.

Thor shook his head, lost again. "No… They are gone."

"Thor, look at me!" Loki asked as he stepped forward. "I am here!" he informed then grabbed Thor's hands and Thor's eyes widened. "I am _right_ here!"

Wide-eyed Thor looked up, tears silently running down his face.

"And if I am here, then maybe..." Loki halted.

Thor sniffled, the tears growing worse.

Loki sighed deeply, "Maybe there _is_ a chance." He let go of Thor's hand to grab his shoulders instead. "Thor, there's so much I have been wanting to tell you." he admitted.

And Thor looked up, his eyes so painful. It made this really difficult.

"I just…. I want you to know. The things that happened." Loki breathed. "Me falling from the Bifrost… New York. Thanos killing me." he took a deep breath. "None of it was your fault."

Thors eyes widened. "What?" he asked.

"It's not your fault." Loki informed. "And neither is any of what Hela did, and neither is the snap. None of it, is your fault."

"But I didn't stop it." Thor sobbed. "I was supposed to stop it!"

"You couldn't stop it." Loki informed. "No one could. Thanos was going to do it, no matter what. And no one could stop it. Not me, not you, not even Odin. Nobody. It was going to happen, and it wasn't your fault."

Thor sniffed. "You don't understand." he swallowed. "He was right in front of me... I had a clean shot. Just the one shot, I aimed... and hit the mark I aimed at. His chest." he swallowed. "Should have gone for the head. Then... He did the snap. And walked away." he bawled. "I could have stopped it Loki! I could... I could.." he broke.

Loki shook his head. "No." he stated. "You couldn't. It's not your fault."

And then, Thor just lost it. Lost it completely as he leaned over and dragged Loki into a tight hug, then he cried.

He cried loudly, in big sobs.

"Erhm Thor… I apologize." Loki halted.

"For… For what?" Thor asked between his gasps.

"I can't maintain this form for very long at the time." Loki admitted. "The cat body is currently my _true_ body and well… I just ran out of magic again."

"Huh?" Thor asked as Loki vanished from Thor's arms and Thor looked down to see a bundle of green robe moving around, and then finally a cat head appeared under the green cloth looking up at Thor with shining green eyes.

Thor breathed deeply, then he swallowed as he sat down on his knees. "I… I really don't understand any of this." he admitted, his voice still so broken. "But… I'm so glad you're here." he sniffed. "I can't believe this... All the things you've done for me. Stayed with me at night, made sure I took care of myself. You even stayed when I was crying, you of all people should get sick of a big idiot like me constantly crying!"

Loki just looked at him, his green eyes saying everything. No... That wasn't how he felt at all.

Wong sighed. "I believe you need some rest." he commented. "To… Sort things out. Can I offer you a drink? You drink beer don't you?"

"No, not for a while. Ragnar won't..." Thor halted then looked down, at the cat in front of him. " _Loki!"_ he exclaimed. "Loki has been punishing me every time I tried to take a drink." he groaned grabbing his head.

Wong frowned.

"But it was what I needed." Thor swallowed as the realization hit him anew. "Everything Loki did... It helped me! It really." his voice broke again. "Tea would be just fine." he assured. "Thank you."

And Wong nodded, then a cup of tea just appeared on the table and Thor sighed as he moved to take a seat on the couch when he suddenly realized… He was sitting _right_ where Loki had been sitting… Naked. He froze for a second before mentally shrugging. Technically Loki was naked all the time these days.

Speaking of whom, he jumped up on the chair opposite and laid down, looking very tired as well.

"Did… Did it make you tired. To use magic?" Thor asked.

Loki nodded.

"I suppose… It has been a pretty eventful day already huh?" Thor continued.

This time Loki didn't give any reply, he just laid there with closed eyes.

Thor looked at Wong. "Do you think he will be able to maintain his Aesir form for longer?" he asked.

Wong shrugged. "I don't know. But that cat form is his default body now." he frowned slightly. "He seems to be speaking truth, in which case..."

"What?" Thor asked.

"He said in four months time there will be a chance. To undo the snap." Wong looked up. "I will admit, I have little reason to trust this man. But if there is the slightest chance, it is my duty to see it through." he admitted. "Keep the amulet. Be warned though, if I discover it has been misused. I _will_ be taking it!"

Thor nodded. "Thank you." he swallowed, looking back to his exhausted brother. "You've been very kind."

"I must be getting soft in my old age." Wong commented dryly.

* * *


	16. Back to New Asgard

It had been a couple of days since Thor had left New Asgard.

Valkyrie couldn't say she was entirely sure about what was going on, something about a museum and a sorcerer having been spotted. All of that was all well and good, but _why_ he had needed to take the cat was a bit beyond her. Yes, they had hardly ever been apart since Ragnar had entered their lives, and it had clearly had a good effect on Thor. But come on!

Still though, they had come a long way. To think that a year ago Thor had been hiding in his house, too ashamed of what he had become to even show himself. And now, he had gone to another country… For whatever reason. But he was out there!

Valkyrie was just making sure Korg had not been setting Thor's house on fire as a strange orange glow appeared in Thor's living room. She blinked as the glow grew and became a round portal, and then… Thor stepped through, holding a well known black cat in his arms.

By the sight of Valkyrie Thor brightened up. "VAL!" he grinned, tears in his eyes and his smile so genuine.

"Thor." Valkyrie smiled amused. "Looks like you found your sorcerer." she remarked.

"Huh?" Thor blinked looking behind himself where the portal closed. "Oh, yes. Him too." he nodded as the portal closed behind him.

"And Ragnar made it too! Hello sweety, hello." Valkyrie grinned starting to pet the cat.

"Erh, Valkyrie." Thor hesitated. "Listen… About Ragnar." he tried.

Valkyrie looked up. "What?" she asked.

"Well, you see." Thor halted, then he broke into a wide smile. "He's actually Loki!" he cried happily.

Valkyrie blinked. "What?" she asked.

"Loki!" Thor sniffed. "He's back! He's right here!" he held up the cat whom looked lax and entirely unimpressed.

"Errrh." Valkyrie looked at Thor. "Thor are you okay?"

"It's true! Look, look!" Thor put the cat down at his feet. "Ah! Just a second." he grabbed his bag and pulled out what looked like a green robe then dumped it on the cat. "Okay Loki show her!"

There were some annoyed sound from beneath the cloth, and then the cat's head appeared. There was silence, nobody moved as they stared at each other.

"Loki… Any time that fits you." Thor tried.

The cat didn't move.

"Loki you're making me look like a stupid idiot." Thor hissed and the cat seemed to grin then Thor slapped his own forehead. "You're doing it on purpose aren't you?"

And the cat… It really looked like it was grinning.

Valkyrie looked at it then shook her head. "Thor, maybe you should sit down." she asked. "I'll get you some water!"

"Valkyrie I am telling you!" Thor exclaimed as she exited the room, then groaned before he glared at the cat. "You know this means pay back right?"

He was just met with a pair of shimmering amused eyes. Thor growled and rolled his eyes as he walked to the couch.

Soon Valkyrie returned with the promised glass of water. "Here you go." she put it on the table. "Is there.." she bit her lip. "Anything else? Tea? Something to eat?" she asked.

Thor groaned again, rubbing his face. "Val, just…" he halted as he looked up.

Loki in Aesir guise was suddenly there, wearing the green robe, standing _right behind_ Valkyrie.

Thors eyes widened.

"What?" Valkyrie asked just as Loki leaned over, his mouth right next to Valkyries ear and then he spoke.

"How's it going, you old drunk?"

"AAAARGH!" Valkyrie screamed as she jumped up and turned around, grabbing her dagger and pointing it right at Loki's throat.

Loki was just offering her a calm amused smile, mirth sparkling in his eyes. Wide-eyed, Valkyrie looked back at him.

"You… You… You..." Valkyrie gasped.

And Loki smirked as he put a finger on the blade of Valkyrie's dagger and pushed it away. "I suppose the good news here is that Thor is not _entirely_ insane." he commented. "Though I really have to question his ethics as king when not supervised."

Thor groaned. "And Loki is still the god of mischief." he commented.

Loki offered him a smirk. "It is who I am. I am sure if you think about it you wouldn't want it any different, Brother-mine."

"You..." Valkyrie seethed.

"Huh?" Loki turned to her.

"You piece of shit!" Valkyrie yelled and suddenly, Loki found himself grabbed, thrown down and pinned to the ground.

"AUW!" Loki grunted as Valkyrie's knee landed in his back.

"So you're telling me, this _entire_ time!" Valkyrie hissed as she pressed her knee harder into Loki's back, holding his arm in a lock. "You were the _cat!_ And you didn't think we ought to know!"

"I tried to tell but you didn't see any of my messages." Loki hissed with his face planted unto the floor.

"So what stopped you from just turning back and telling us, huh?" Valkyrie asked.

"I literately _couldn't!_ " Loki shouted. "I was stuck okay! That cat body is my real body now and DAMMIT! I just ran out of magic again."

"What does that mean?" Valkyrie asked the next second, all she was holding was a green robe. A black cat darted from beneath it and towards the wall where it turned and hissed at Valkyrie.

"Oh yeah real mature." Valkyrie snorted as she stood up.

"Valkyrie listen," Thor chuckled amused. "Loki can only maintain his Aesir form for minutes at a time. The only reason he can change at all now is because of the amulet he is wearing. That's the reason why he wanted to go to that museum."

"What?" Valkyrie looked at Loki, then at the amulet he wore, then she turned to Thor. "You _stole_ that amulet from the museum?" she asked.

"Erhm.. erh. Yes." Thor admitted.

"Heh, nice." Valkyrie smirked then turned back to Loki glaring at him. "But we are _not_ done!" she stated. "I carried you around! I hand fed you. I SLEPT with you laying beside me!"

Loki just looked sullen.

"Have you _any_ idea what it did to Thor when he watched you die?!" Valkyrie asked. "Then you weren't even dead?! YOU BASTARD!"

"Valkyrie no!" Thor reached out a hand. "Why do you think he's like this? He really died!"

"Then how is he HERE?!" Valkyrie asked in a shout turning to Thor.

"He was literally reborn." Thor informed. "But… as a cat."

"Wait, born?" Valkyrie asked. "As in coming out of… You know?"

Thor nodded. "Loki said it was horrible."

"Oh." Valkyrie blinked. "Serves him right."

"And then he had to cross entire countries by himself just to get here." Thor informed. "Val, he did all he could!"

Valkyrie pouted and crossed her arms. "Fine!" she stated then glared at Loki. "But I got my eyes on you! AND NO MORE FAVORS! It's _over!_ You cheat!"

Loki just hissed. _As if it's all MY fault that you are all too blind and stupid to notice the messages I tried to leave you. If the fate of half the universe weren't at stake - again, I'd never have returned to you pathetic, ungrateful idiots. All I ever get from you are mockery, insults and baseless accusations._

"Yeah that doesn't have the same effect anymore. You're not cute at all!" Valkyrie stated.

"Really?" Thor asked. "I think he's adorable."

That made the cat turn to Thor, and his hiss grew extra vicious. _I hate you, you know. Really, really, really hate you. Brother._

"Oh I see." Valkyrie smirked. "Yes, I suppose you are cute, adorable! The cutest thing in the world!"

Loki glared at her.

"Live with it fuzzball." Valkyrie snorted. "You're still a jerk!"


	17. Brothers

Thor was having the nicest sleep he could ever remember having. His body felt warm and heavy, in a really nice way. His mind was blissfully empty. There was just his soft bed with a soft pillow and a nice warm blanket.

He was so much at peace that a familiar soft voice speaking didn't even cause ripples in the hazy space he was drifting through.

"Thor."

Thor sighed deeply.

"Thooor." That voice, he felt so glad and content hearing it. It was so familiar, like a childhood memory that made him feel comfortable and safe.

And then all that peaceful contentment was torn away by a scream, right into his ear.

_"THOR!"_

"Argh!" Thor jumped in shock and fell to the floor in a thud, heart racing as he found himself looking wide-eyed at a young man standing above him wearing only a green wizard's robe and nothing more.

"Lo-Loki." he gasped.

"Chop chop!" Loki clasped his hands. "There are only four months until whatever the hell is going to go down actually goes down! _You_ are still not anywhere near your prime and I got other stuff to do! Get up." He kicked Thor in his side.

Thor groaned deeply as his recent memories pieced themselves together. "Loki why?" he asked.

"Because Thor, I've been stuck as a _cat_ the last eight months and I've got a lot of penned up frustrations." Loki replied. "Get dressed. Work won't do itself." he stated as he turned around and walked out.

Thor groaned again, but dutifully did as he was told, getting up and dressed as he walked out into the living room and saw Loki in his cat form sitting at the counter looking expectantly at him.

Out of habit, Thor went to the fridge to look for fresh meat for Ragnar's breakfast. He halted halfway through opening the door and turned to Loki. "I am not going to feed you anymore." he stated. "You can turn yourself into an Aesir, you can get your own food." Instead of meat, he reached for the yogurt for his own breakfast. After finding a bowl and mixing some yogurt with chopped fruit he glanced at Loki. "You still can't do it for anymore than a couple of minutes?" he asked.

Loki's hiss was answer enough.

"Do you think you'll be able to do it for longer eventually?"

At that Loki was silent, then he sniffed raising his head.

"You don't know. Huh." Thor commented and Loki glared at him. "There has to be a way though right?" he asked. "I mean, with the amulet you at least managed the shapeshifting. What if we found… An even better amulet?" he asked.

Loki's eave him a deadpan look, one ear twitching.

"I'm just saying." Thor pouted. "Wow, now I think about it, you really must hate this. You were always so proud of your magic and that you didn't have to use focal objects like others." he reflected. "Except for when you used that scepter during New York. That was weird. You usually hate relying on outside sources of magic like that."

Loki… Did not look amused, he looked like he wanted to kill something. Very badly, and probably very messily.

"Loki?" Thor asked.

Loki jumped down from the counter, walked to his robe now on the floor and crawled under it, next second the god was back. "Okay, Thor! Here's a few rules for you! Do _not_ mention New York! Do _not_ mention that stupid scepter! And by the All Father, do _not_ patronize me right now, okay?" he asked.

Thor blinked. "Are you… Embarrassed about New York?" he asked.

Lokis face flushed deep red as he crossed his arms and looked the other way.

"Well, I suppose you did lose." Thor nodded. "A pretty humiliating defeat even."

Loki seethed. "It wasn't even _my_ plan, you oaf!" he exclaimed. "I had been turned into someone else's puppet! You think I am happy about that?! It is not that I succeeded in losing that bothers me."

Thor halted, then he looked down. "Right… Thanos." he remembered. "He did talk about that, on the Statesman."

Loki grimaced. "Congratulations on having the luxury of forgetting."

"That's why he wanted you dead specifically, isn't it?" Thor asked.

Loki sighed deeply. "I wanted to refuse him just on principle. At that point I was just done being anyone's puppet." he informed his brother. "But even as powerful as I am, I can't resist the power of an infinity stone."

Tears welled up in Thor's eyes.

"Hey Thor, could you make me a cup of tea?" Loki asked. "I haven't had any for ages."

"Oh yes, sure. Which kind?" Thor asked.

Loki's only answer was a narrow-eyed glare. He was a cat again.

Thor smirked. "I am going to guess herbal. There's this thing called Jasmine tea which I think you will like. It's similar to some things they had at Asgard." he turned to the cupboards and started to shuffle through the boxed to find the tea. He paused as he found the correct box. "Erhm Loki… " he tried awkwardly. "About… You know, stuff that happened."

Loki hissed as a warning sign.

"I don't really care anymore." Thor sighed. "I mean, what does it even matter anymore? This city, it's all there is left… I think, what we need to concentrate on is just protecting them you know? And help them grow. And I think, that's also what you want. Isn't it?" he asked turning to face Loki, who lowered his head and refused to look at him. "I erh… I have not been a very good king." Thor muttered. "I want to be better. Will you... would you help me? Please?" he asked.

Loki looked up, meeting his eyes before offering a defeated nod.

Thor smiled softly, as the first of the long-threatened tears spilled down his cheeks. "When Thanos came… I tried my best. I really did." he sniffed. "But my best wasn't good enough. And I keep being so afraid, what if my best… just _isn't_ good enough?" he asked. "What is the point even trying when my best is _still_ just messing everything up? What if I just... can't?"

Loki shook his head as he sighed; he hadn't absorbed enough magic to transform again so he lifted a paw instead to form runes Thor could read. At least he could be sure that _this_ time his brother was paying attention.

" _You won't know if your best is good enough until you have tried._ _Maybe it won't be. But maybe, just maybe, it will be. You just have to try. I am here with you._ "

Thor seemed to almost lose it with those words. His tears flowed freely, now and he sniffled. Loki just glared at him until Thor had gotten himself under control. Realizing he still held a half-crushed box in his hands, Thor's eyes widened. "Oh! Tea!" he turned back to the counter. "Right." he reached for the kettle filling it with water and set it to boiling.

Thor took great care in making the tea, pouring it in a mug and placing it on the table. With a small smile for his brother-turned-cat, he shook his head and turned to rinse the kettle, allowing Loki privacy. When Thor turned back, Loki was sitting on the chair wearing his robe.

Holding the mug with both hands, he inhaled the steam and sighed deeply.

"You know… out of all the things you can do as an Aesir, I honestly really missed this." Loki admitted taking a sip.

"Sipping tea?" Thor asked.

"Yes." Loki held up a hand to forestall anything else the Thunder god might say. "Allow yourself to be one with the moment. Do not think of the past or the future. There is just you, the scent of herbs and the warmth in your hands. It's called meditation Thor, you should try it some day. You might actually like it."

"You know you're right! I should!" Thor stated, causing Loki to blink.

"Huh?" Loki asked looking honestly shocked.

"I should learn how to meditate!" Thor repeated. "It sharpens your focus right? And it erh… It helps you... um" he waved with his hands. "Focus? I guess."

"This is why you suck at magic Thor." Loki stated.

Thor blushed deeply. "Right, so… I really ought to learn. Right?"

Loki blinked. "You… You _want_ to learn magic, Thor?" he asked.

Thor's face was deep red, but he nodded.

"You do know it is an art requiring immense patience and discipline. Right?" Loki asked. "And there's _a lot_ of theory involved: runes you have to learn, concepts that need to be understood. Going over them again and again and again and even then your understanding will only be the most basic minimum as only years of practice in the art will grant you any true understanding of it. It takes at least a decade just to get even the most basic spells right. A hundred years, minimum, to do anything you would consider useful."

"We've got time, though. Don't we?" Thor asked. "I mean, you are here now. Right?"

Loki just stared at him, keeping his face as expressionless as possible.

"I promise! I know I never listened in the past, but I will do so now!" Thor exclaimed.

"Well… Erhm." Loki blinked, momentarily at a loss for words. "Right now we have to worry about what happens in four months okay?" he asked. "So, just concentrate on regaining your former strength."

"Oh, okay. I see. You're right. Priorities." Thor muttered abashed. "But _after_ we are done with that we can begin, right?"

"Sure." Loki's smile was weak, but genuine. It lasted only a moment before he again ran out of power and turned back into his cat form. He dropped his head to his paws as Thor gave a rueful chuckle.

"We'll talk more later, brother. For now, I will do as you suggested and get to my training."

Loki watched him leave the room and, though he'd hardly had time to enjoy any of his tea, Loki couldn't help a stab of relief at being once again unable to answer Thor. Right now, he wasn't sure he _could_. His head was swimming with despair at the reality of his situation - a reality Thor had yet to grasp

If Thor didn't win, Hela would take him back! Then what would happen to Thor?!

And even if Thor _did_ win, how many years would he have? Ten? Twenty? Thirty if he was really stretching it. Midgardian felines were not all that long-lived.

To learn any proper magic, it would take at least a hundred years… far more time than Loki would have, even in the best case. Was Loki handing out promises he couldn't keep?

 _Norns… What have I gotten myself into?_ Loki breathed deeply, willing himself to settle.

 _Okay, slow and easy… Priorities first, emotions later. We have to win this! We just have to! If Thor fails then…_ Loki looked up.

Thor would blame himself for failing to save the Asgardians. Loki would be taken back and Thor… Loki could not see it ending well for Thor. To fail again would destroy him. Completely.


	18. Future of Asgard

Thor was not really sure what to think.

The last couple days Loki had stayed in his cat form. When Thor had asked, he'd indicated that it was not that he _couldn't_ change, just that he wouldn't. This morning was the first time he'd seen his brother in Aesir form, and Loki had sent him outside for training, had told Thor in a condescending voice that Thor had work to do and had ought to get to it.

That was fair of course! Irritating but fair. Thor used his frustrated energy to just push through a more strenuous training routine than usual.

He had to admit, though, he kind of missed the company of a cat running after him and observing him, encouraging him to do more. And it actually had been Loki all along…

With that thought, Thor couldn't help but smile and he wasn't angry anymore. But why was Loki just staying inside?!

After having trained, Thor decided to check on the village. It had been some time and he was eager to see how well they were all doing.

The kids who had gotten weapons for their Solstice presents were training with them under the guidance of one of the older warriors. Thor paused to watch their drills, pleased to see they were treating their weapons with respect, as was worthy of an Asgardian warrior.

When they had a break, the kids faces lit up at the sight of him. "KING THOR!" they laughed and came running.

Thor roared in laughter as he picked up the gir who reached hom firstl. "You're all doing well I see!" he grinned. "Torkild!" he addressed a boy holding his sword. "Have you practiced those overhand swings like I showed you?"

"Yes my King!" Torkild exclaimed. "Every day, just like you told me to do!"

The other children enthusiastically chimed in with comments about their lessons, all wanting to share their excitement. Thor did his best to respond, listening to their babble and occasionally offering compliments and encouragement.

"Good job! All of you. One day you shall be the warriors defending Asgard!" Thor proclaimed. "The Norns know we need warriors." he sighed deeply.

There were nods all around, and Torkild added "I'll do my best!" Thor smiled and ruffling up his hair just as a certain red head came to join the group.

"BRYGUL!" Thor cheered. "How are you my boy?"

Bryguls face was deep red, he was shuffling his feet.

"Is all well?" Thor asked.

Brygul nodded. "I just… erhm. King Thor, may I… Show you something?" he asked.

Thor smiled kindly and nodded. "Any time." he assured.

"I know it's not very good nor impressive but I, um, I..." Brygul sucked in a deep breath, he started to move his hands, his feet moved in a specific pattern. Thor's eyes widened as from Bryguls hands came… a creature of golden mist. Though it was transparent, and the shape wavered a bit before it stabilized, the bird that took form was beautiful as it was released and flew across the roadway, making the other children laugh and cheer as they chased it.

Only for their fingers to slip through the illusion when they caught up.

Thor was astounded, his eyes watered as the bird vanished. Thor looked down at the boy in wonder.

"I know it's not very good." Brygul muttered, staring at the ground as he dug a toe into the dirt. "I can't make it look like a real bird or even look solid. I can't make it any bigger or last any longer either, but -"

"Are you kidding?" Thor asked, going to one knee to look Brygul in the face. "What you did is _amazing!_ All you had was a single piece of paper and you managed to do that! Do you know how impressive that is?"

"It is?" Brygul asked, hesitantly raising his eyes to meet Thor's.

"Child, I had the finest instructors known in the nine realms - including my own mother, one of the finest Illusionists who ever lived. And even with decades of instruction I never got that far myself." Thor informed him. "You though, you have only been working at it for a month, with no more than whatever you may have gleaned before we were forced to flee and one single piece of paper! That, Brygul, is something else! It is amazing. You have such potential. Don't stop."

Brygul beamed at the praise. "I won't my King, I promise!"

"In fact," Thor added as a thought struck him, "I know someone you should meet. I believe he will be quite impressed that you could do that much with so very little."

"Really?" Brygul asked.

Thor nodded. "Yes, and I am sure he will be happy to help you. Although, it is likely to be a while before you can meet him. But I promise I will introduce you, just keep up the good work."

"Okay." Brygul smiled. "I will!"

Thor smiled warmly, ruffling up his hair as well. It gave him joy to see the future of Asgard in these children, and even greater incentive to fix things if he could.

* * *

When Thor returned to his house he was honestly exhausted, and was looking forward to a rest. The moment Thor got a look at the couch table he halted.

On the table was Loki - as a cat, passed out. And all around him were papers… papers upon papers, a veritable blizzard of papers. All were filled with writings in Loki's elegant hand. Thor picked one up to see formulas, diagrams… how to close a wound with magic… and so much more.

Thor sucked in a deep breath. So this is what Loki had been doing! Thor immediately felt bad for being annoyed at Loki for not joining him in training. Recording this knowledge was, indeed, very important work, and Loki had clearly been hoarding his energy for this endeavor. They had lost it all once, and his brother was doing everything in his power to ensure it would not stay lost.

With a fond smile for his cat-brother, Thor went to the storage closet to get a folder, complete with plastic sleeves, and carefully put each paper into its own sleeve so they would not be damaged should anyone accidentally spill anything on the precious pages. That done, he picked up Loki, who didn't react at all… He really was dead to the world, having overspent his magic (obviously). Thor laid him gently down on the pillow he had been using the entire time, just in front of the fireplace. Then put the folder next to Loki where he could find it when he woke up.


	19. True stakes

Spring was in full bloom. Any sign of snow was long gone and the Asgardians could ditch their heavy coats when they walked outside.

Soon it would be summer… Two months. Two months before the man who talks to ants was supposed to arrive.

Loki had spent his days writing, several folders had now been filled with hundreds of pages, carefully placed in plastic sleeves. Any important secrets or pointers Loki could think of or remember were recorded. But it didn't feel like enough. Time was moving so fast.

It had been ten months since all of this began. The good news was that Loki was now fully grown in his cat form. He was decent sized, had a strong slender body and shining black fur.

The bad news was… this was it. His cat body was now fully grown. He would not get bigger, he would not be able to retain anymore magic - at least not without some sort of help. This was what he was going to get.

Loki sighed deeply as he was looking at the blank page in front of him. He used magic to write, now. Remaining in his cat body and using magic was the least wasteful method he'd found, but it was still a struggle. He would always keep writing until either he passed out or someone demanded he took a break. 'Someone' usually being Thor.

Loki couldn't help but feel like he was leaving behind his own legacy. This was something only _he_ could do. Something he could contribute, could be recognized - _remembered_ \- for. Something _worth_ being remembered for. He had yet to make it clear to Thor.

Loki… belonged to Hela. It was only at her mercy he could even be here and she was free to take him at any time. He was her property, fair and square.

How ironic… Loki had fought so hard to no longer be anyone's property. Not Odin's… Not Thanos'. And yet here he was.

Yes, Hela had promised, but Loki was not so sure at all her word was to be trusted. She was as underhanded as he himself was when the situation demanded it.

Two months, it felt like no time at all. Would Thor be able to handle it? And what would happen if the worst were to come… if Thor failed?

Worry overtook Loki, clenching at his chest and it stopped him from thinking any further.

"How's it going fuzzball?"

Loki hissed as Valkyrie just waltzed in like she always did, a smirk on her face. She glanced at the blank paper in front of Loki.

"Writers block?" she asked.

Loki didn't bother replying; it wasn't worth wasting his precious magic.

"Honestly though, you've really done your part, kitty." Valkyrie commented, gesturing to the book shelf which already had an entire row of those same black folders. Thor had even walked all the way to town to buy more for Loki. All the empty ones waiting to be filled were stacked on the bottom shelf.

Valkyrie walked over to the shelf and picked up one of the filled folders, opening it up looking down at all the drawings. "Man… I have to say Lackey, this kind of amazes me." she admitted as she rested a hand on a page, then let her finger trace one of Loki's diagrams. "Heh, when I grew up I always thought being a scholar was really stupid. Dusty old men using their entire lives, head down in a book. I always made fun of them. Now though, we could use one or two of them couldn't we?" she asked. "This is our legacy… isn't it."

Loki sighed as he finally gave in and jumped down onto the chair before changing form. "You kind of have to appreciate the irony don't you?" he asked. "A Jotnar delivering the legacy of the Aesir."

Valkyrie shook her head. "Jotnar or Aesir, you still grew up in Asgard. So it's not that weird is it?" she asked, turning to look at Loki. Then her eyes widened. "Oh Norns you're naked!" she excalimed, slapping a hand over her eyes. "Yeah, I did _not_ need to see that."

Loki rolled his eyes as he leaned down to pick up his usual robe and putting it on. Valkyrie peeked through her fingers then sighed deeply.

"No need to look like that. One of the first things you did to me when I returned here as a cat was getting a good look at my junk." Loki pointed out.

"That's _not_ the same!" Valkyrie cried. "You were cat! And I didn't know!"

Loki just smirked amused.

"Don't think I have forgotten." Valkyrie glared at him. "At Sakaar, you were the worlds biggest sleezeball. _Always_ sucking up to the Grandmaster and saying all the things to him he wanted to hear just to get favors."

"That's how Sakaar functioned. You know it." Loki sighed deeply. "And it worked didn't it? If Thor hadn't arrived and I had stayed there, in time I would have not just become the Grandmaster's right hand man _but_ I would have dethroned him and Sakaar itself would be mine to do with as I pleased. And well, think on it. Do you really think my rulership would be that much worse than the _Grandmasters?"_

"That was your plan?" Valkyrie asked. "Play the long game, work yourself up and then completely take over?"

"Yes it was, and it was working just fine until Thor showed up." Loki replied.

"Wow. You are one scary dude, you know that?" Valkyrie asked.

Loki smirked at her, but his expression fell as he looked back at the table. "Erhm Valkyrie… I erh." he twisted his fingers. "I need to ask you something."

"Aaand now you're scaring me. That tone doesn't sound like Loki." Valkyrie stated.

Loki's face didn't change; he looked at his hands, his eyes distant.

"Oh… Well." Valkyrie hesitated. "What is it?" she asked. "And look if you're wanting me to do anything weird, then the answer is no!"

Loki smirked a bit in amusement, then his smile faltered again. "I erhm, I haven't exactly told Thor… everything." he admitted.

At once Valkyrie became defensive. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I told him most things but I don't think Thor realizes what many of these things _mean_. I already told it was Hela who send me back, to do a job for her." Loki swallowed. "Valkyrie, I am _her_ agent. Every second I am here is merely at her mercy. She can take me back any time she so wishes."

Valkyries eyes widened.

"I have a job. To make Thor ready for what is to come. Two months from now." Loki replied. "When that job is over." he looked up.

"WHAT?!" Valkyrie shouted. "You're just going to leave?"

"Well, I did talk Hela into allowing me to live out the rest of my new natural life span." Loki smiled weakly. "That is… if I succeed. _And_ if her word is to be trusted."

"Her words are _not_ to be trusted!" Valkyrie informed. "She promised me that she would never turn against me or my army but she did! Killed them all! She _lied._ sat us up and killed us! You can't trust her!"

"Then." Loki smiled though his eyes were wet. "It is probably safe to assume that in two months time we have to say goodbye."

Valkyrie halted. "No… that's not right. Isn't there something you can do?"

"I'm already dead." Loki reminded Valkyrie with a weak, defeated chuckle. "This isn't my real body, it's a replacement. My soul has already been in Helheim. Valkyrie… I'm _dead._ And this.." he looked at the papers in front of him. "This is a mercy granted by Hela, of all people."

Valkyrie shook her head. "Loki, you have to tell Thor!"

Loki closed her eyes. "Do you really think the added burden of my fate will help Thor at this current time?" he asked. "He needs to be ready, so he can undo the snap. Rescue all the people who were taken away. Hela informed me their souls did _not_ go to Valhalla nor to Helheim. They went missing, Val, disappeared completely. We are not just talking the lives, but the _souls_ of what remains of Asgard." he stated.

Valkyrie was stunned into silence.

"Look… What I wanted to ask you..." Loki swallowed. "I just want you to look after Thor. I know you did your best before but, Thor needs purpose! He needs things to do! You can't just leave him alone in this house! He is going to fade away!" he looked Valkyrie directly into the eyes. "Just… Help him."

"Loki." Valkyrie looked at him. "All the things that happened, it destroyed Thor. Not a physical wound, I could have dealt with that. But on the inside, and I couldn't fix it! It was a miracle he started to get better, I couldn't believe it." she gasped for breath. "But… If he fails retrieving all those souls... if you go away. I don't think anything in the entire world will be able to help him."

Loki closed his eyes. "Yes, that's what I feared." he admitted. "He blamed himself for the failure, and he is going to blame himself if this new chance fails."

"I just pray that this is not Hela's cruel trick to get revenge upon her brother." Valkyrie admitted and a cold shiver ran down Loki's back. He hadn't considered that possibility. It just might be.

There was a bit of silence then Loki sighed. "Would you at least… give him things to do?" he asked. "Don't just leave him alone."

"I'll try." Valkyrie promised. "You really care about him, huh?"

"Dying kind of put a lot of things into perspective." Loki exhaled deeply. "In the life I had… I made a lot of stupid mistakes. Acted dumb, _really_ dumb." he admitted. "Though, for all of that, there was just one person… _only_ the one, who kept believing there was good inside of me somewhere. Even when Thor finally figured what I actually am, finally _understood -_ an agent of chaos, a liar and a cheat - he still..." Lokis voice choked. "He still wanted me around."

Valkyrie softened.

"I always thought Thor was an idiot when we grew up. I hated him, hated that he always got all the love and attention. Hated how overbearing he always was! I thought he was showing off, treating me like a child who needed his help for _everything_. I honestly believed that the reason he kept dragging me with him on his stupid so-called adventures was just to make a fool out of me. To give his friends more reasons to mock and torment, to upstage me and make fun of me! He always was a show off. But… he really just wanted me to be around. He wasn't lying about it like I thought. He meant it!" Loki closed his eyes. "I'm such an idiot! I first got that when I was about to _die!_ "

Valkyrie sighed deeply.

"And now I'm dead." Loki looked up. "I'm not actually alive. I am cheating again."

"Well, you seem pretty alive to me." Valkyrie commented. "And your claws certainly feel very real."

Loki smirked.

"Can't believe I am saying this but..." Valkyrie sighed. "Whatever happens, I _really_ hope you get to stick around! I… I don't think we can handle this without you."

Loki closed his eyes.

"Loki?" Valkyrie.

"You know… When I was a child. The one thing I wanted, more than anything. I wanted… to be needed." Loki admitted. "I wanted to be _valued._ Irreplaceable. And now… it would be so much better if I could leave and be assured you would be okay without me."

"Sorry." Valkyrie muttered.

"Nothing to forgive." Loki assured her as he stood up. "I am going to take a nap." he stated, walking across the room… and then he just shrank down and crawled out from under the robe to curl up in a ball on his pillow.

"Dammit. I never thought I would feel sorry for you." Valkyrie admitted. "And I certainly never believed I would be begging for you to stay! DAMMIT LACKEY!" she shouted, then halted, taking a breath to calm herself. "I'll do what I can, I promise." she said. "We'll figure things out… Somehow."

Loki didn't respond beyond curling a little tighter. He just laid with closed eyes and Valkyrie sighed. It was so annoying when all you could do was hope for the best.


	20. One year

Tick tock… Tick tock… Time is up.

A year.

It was a year ago, today, exactly, since Loki had been reborn.

It was early summer and the weather was… absolutely amazing. Loki was sitting in an open window looking out, allowing the warm breeze to brush over his fur.

Ironically, he was reminded of Helheim - how cold and desolate that place had been. No living trees or plants, just suffering souls crawling around looking like mummified corpses. Searching for something, anything to ease their suffering.

Oddly enough, Loki found the thought of going back there wasn't what got to him. It was the thought of leaving people behind.

"Loki!" Thor grinned as he walked up behind Loki holding a mug of coffee in his hands. "What a wonderful day."

Loki looked up at Thor. Thor was shining once again. His blue eye glimmering with life and good humor, and somehow the golden mechanical one seemed to do the same.

He was a toned and impressive figure, the tank top he wore freely exposing his big strong arms and well... a well-muscled stomach that suited him a lot. His hair had grown out again, but this time it was well kept as it fell to his shoulders. It was a complete turn around from one year ago. He looked amazing.

Thor took in a deep breath as he turned his face into the wind to enjoy the feeling of it sweeping across his skin. With a smile, he reached forward to slide his hand down Loki's back. Loki didn't object; he closed his eyes, taking the opportunity to enjoy the gentle warmth of Thor's big hand.

"You want some tea?" Thor offered and Loki nodded.

"Coming right up!" Thor grinned as he walked back into the kitchen and turned on the kettle.

Loki kept watching as Thor moved around preparing not only the cup of tea, but two plates of breakfast as well. Just some toast and jam, but the thought - the _care_ meant a lot to him. Even though...

Loki sighed. He really wasn't that crazy about jam; it was much to sweet for him.

"Ah! Sorry!" Thor remembered when Loki hissed lightly at him. "Just some cheese for you." He put both pieces of toast that had jam on them on his own plate, and made something new for Loki before he returned to the window. He set all the breakfast items on the counter, and picked up Loki's robe to cast it over Loki's head.

Soon afterward, Loki the Aesir made his appearance, still sitting on the windowsill and just leaning up against the frame as he accepted tea and toast. "Thank you." he said, picking up the toast and taking a bite.

Thor smiled warmly. "It really suits you to say thank you." he commented.

"It suits you to be considerate of those around you." Loki replied.

"Ouch." Thor grimaced but then shook his head. "Yeah, humility suits us both I think." Then he grinned. "Loki, it's really a shame you haven't yet seen all the things Brygul has taught himself to do! It is amazing!" he exclaimed. "Just that one page of instructions and ...well, all the images he makes do still look like mist, but still! He can hold them longer and from a little greater distance, and they're becoming more defined and detailed. I think you'd be pleased. He can make a misty figure that looks like me!"

"Considering he had no formal instruction, that is very impressive. I think he must have a fair amount of natural talent." Loki had to admit. "Just think of where he will be in a hundred years." he smiled softly.

"And think of what he could learn with a real instructor!" Thor beamed.

Loki smiled weakly, they had yet to tell the Asgardians that Loki was here. Just Thor, Valkyrie and Korg knew. To all the rest he was still just Ragnar, Thor's cat.

Thor had been confused why Loki had asked that but accepted Loki's wishes. He clearly assumed that Loki just wasn't ready to show up. That he didn't want the Asgardians to see him as a weak cat after having been scorned as 'weak' for much of his life.

Thor was wrong on those accounts… Loki didn't want to show up and give them all hope just to be forced to leave again. He took another bite of toast.

"Look I've been thinking!" Thor stated. "Thus far New Asgard has only focused on sustaining itself. That's all. The citizens did what they had to do to have a daily meal and roof over their heads. But I think we're stable, now. It's time to actually put a bit of effort into development right?" he asked. "Build some new things!"

"Things like what?" Loki asked.

"Well, a library would be a good place to start I think. And you've put so much work into putting our legacy onto paper. We ought to help others who remember to do the same! Make books for the library." Thor stated. "And I do believe we had some special techniques when it comes to farming. We should see if we could apply them here. It would be good to branch out into more than fishing. And a proper Healers House with beds for anyone sick who needs it! You wrote down the runes we used to use in healers rooms to make them the best environment for healing. You've given us back that knowledge, we should use it! Lastly... Transportation. Look at making better spaceships or perhaps, a way to travel through Yggdrasil's branches to the other realms." Thor's brows furrowed. "We should explore possibilities at least."

Loki hid his amused smile behind a sip of tea. "Why Thor, you're starting to sound like a king." he commented.

"Really?" Thor asked.

Loki smirked. "It's the job of a king to protect his people, but also his job is to stand in front and lead. Put things in motion for progress and development."

Thor smiled embarrassed. "You would be better suited for that part though." he commented.

Loki shrugged. "That's entirely possible, but you're the king, so deal with it. How ridiculous would it look with a cat running around wearing a crown?" he asked.

Thor chuckled at the thought. "That would be so cute though! Loki the Cat King."

"Oh, shut up Thor." Loki snorted.

"I could just see it!" Thor gasped. "With a little green cape! And a tiny little scepter. It would be the best thing ever."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"King Loki! Hail his meowjesty!" Thor grinned. "Oh, by the Norns, how cute would it be if we could find your helmet in cat size?!"

"Okay that's it." Loki stated putting down the plate and tea and then, he launched for Thor grabbing his arms in a arm lock. "Who's cute now Thor?" he asked.

"YOU ARE!" Thor proclaimed easily slipping out of Loki's hold and ruffled his hair, and soon a play fight just broke out. Loki jumped on top of Thor's back and Thor laughed loudly as both crashed to the floor, landing with Loki sitting on Thor's back.

"What do we say Thor?" Loki asked, tugging Thor's hair playfully.

"I yield, I yield." Thor chuckled.

Then Loki pouted. "You were holding back on purpose! You're way stronger than I am."

Thor shrugged. "I was just having fun honestly." he stated as the doorbell rang and both looked up.

It couldn't be Valkyrie - she always just walked in. Loki turned back into a cat and jumped off Thor as Thor stood up, looking confused.

Loki swallowed, his heart beating loudly as Thor walked to the door and opened up and there…

Was a massive green figure and a small furry thing with a striped tail.

Thor gaped. "Friend Banner?" he asked astounded. "Is that you?"

The green man offered Thor a soft smile. "Hey Thor. It's so good seeing you. You look amazing."

"Oh, Thank you." Thor replied. "It's… Good seeing you to." he replied a little stunned. "And, Rocket." he looked down.

"Whassup!" Rocket waved a hand.

"Oh, please come in." Thor stepped aside. "I was just having breakfast. Can I get you something?"

"Since you're asking," Bruce answered as he bowed down to fit through the door frame, "I wouldn't say no to some coffee."

"Same." Rocket stated as he waltzed inside. "Sit down big guy, we got some big news for ya!"

Loki had jumped back into the window frame and was sitting absolutely still as he eyed the two newcomers. It appeared Hela hadn't been lying; she had been serious.

"Really?" Thor asked. He paused in making coffee to take a deep breath.

"Thor." Bruce rumbled. "I know this is going to sound crazy but… We may found a way, to get them back! To get everyone back!"

Thor gasped.

"Just, believe us okay? It's not as crazy as you think." Rocket asked.

"No, I believe you." Thor stated and both parties stared at each other.

"Really?" Bruce asked, honestly astounded over how easy that had been.

Thor glanced at Loki their eyes shortly meeting then turned back to Bruce. "Yeah, I erh… I kind of got this... foretelling that something like that was supposed to happen around now." he admitted. "By any chance, have you run into a man who talks to ants?"

Bruce gaped. "How did you know that?" he asked.

"Wooow. You know a fortune teller or something?" Rocket asked.

"It's… complicated. I was just told to be ready for today that's all." Thor stated. "Come on I'll make you that coffee then you can tell me all about it."

"Just one cup." Bruce asked. "Then we need to get going!"

"Oh, okay. Should I pack anything?" Thor asked.

Bruce nodded. "Your weapon of course, and a change of clothes might not be a bad idea."

"Sure." Thor replied. "Oh, and one thing... um, ...Can I bring my cat?" he asked.

They both looked dumbfounded at Thor.

"Your cat?" Bruce asked.

"He's not a normal cat." Thor replied. Loki decided that was as good an entry as he was going to get and jumped down from the window frame and walked over to them. He stared at their visitors for a long moment before jumping up on the table and looking intently at Bruce.

Rocket rolled his eyes. "I hate cats" he informed them. Which Thor thought was pretty ironic as Rocket looked a lot like a cat honestly.

Bruce frowned at the feline in front of him. "When you say he isn't normal, what do you mean by that?"

"Well he.." Thor began, then cleared his throat uncomfortably, unsure exactly what and how much to say. "His name is Ragnar. He is a... erhm, A ...guardian? Kind of. I guess. With… Special gifts."

"Special how?" Rocket asked, observing the cat with narrowed eyes.

At that moment the cat vanished - just vanished without a trace - and a meow sounded from across the room where he was now sitting on the counter.

"He can do that, among other things." Thor informed them.

"Wait... are you telling me… You have a magic cat?" Rocket asked.

"Yeah." Thor replied. "I have a magic cat."

Bruce and Rocket glanced at each other then Bruce shrugged. "Okay, I see no problem with that. Go pack for you and your magic cat."


	21. The Avengers

Ufff, there were _a lot_ of familiar faces here at the Avengers facility.

Everybody who had fought against Loki in the battle of New York was present. Well, all except the Man of Iron; he was a no-show.

But all the rest were here: the black spider woman, his old pet hawk, the insufferable do-good captain man and the big green ogre also called Bruce Banner. And, of course, Thor himself.

Oh joy… What a reunion. For once in this new life, Loki was pretty happy just staying a cat.

There were also some new faces.

The talking raccoon and… urgh, Nebula. Loki shivered. He remembered her all too well from when he had been Thanos's captive! Apparently she had changed sides now, though her eyes were as dead and devoid of light as ever.

There was another bird man, this one called Falcon. He was yet another do-gooder, so of course he was the Captain's friend.

And then there was the long awaited… Man Who Talks to Ants.

Considering Loki had spend an entire year thinking about this guy, seeing him in person was kind of disappointing. The man was a dork. But what had Loki expected? The man was talking to _ants._ When Loki actually thought about it, that was a really stupid power. It only made sense for the man himself to be equally unimpressive.

Once Loki's initial defensiveness had subsided though, he started to notice things. These people looked terrible!

Yes, it had been nearly a decade since he had last seen them and that was a long time in human years but… it honestly looked like they had all aged even more than a decade. These people looked haggard and just used, wrinkles of worry and stress had infused their faces. There were shadows in their eyes that were both unexpected and familiar. It bothered him that he couldn't place it.

Then Loki realized.

Yes, Thor was very close to his old self now but… There was still that shadow within his eyes. There was a wrinkle on his forehead which hadn't been there before. That sadness was ever present deep inside of him. This new knowledge and heavy burden. And that... was never going to go away.

Though in excellent repair, Thor's armor showed the marks of true battle and true sorrow in every smoothed out dent and scratch. It had been scrubbed and buffed, but was no longer spot free and burnished bright, carrying still the ghosts of dirt and sweat and blood and pain. The shadows in his heart would ever leave a stain. That wasn't going to change.

And the same went for everyone in the building. Every single one carried such shadows. But in Thor, there was also hope. Some of these people didn't even dare to hope.

Clint Barton was in that category, he was reluctant to get help yet desperate for _something_ to change. His despair clung to him like tar and he barely dared hope to hope.

Natasha Romanoff and Steve Rogers were nearly the opposite. They clung to a thread of hope with a desperation that stank of denial.

The only ones who looked like they had managed to somewhat accept their present and move on with their lives were Bruce Banner and Thor. The shadows that surrounded them were leavened with purpose and interest in life-as-it-is.

Loki didn't know Sam Wilson, Scott Lang or Rocket the raccoon. He wished he didn't know Nebula. He could tell they carried burdens and shadows of their own, but didn't know what they had been like in the past to make a comparison.

Well okay, he had known Nebula. But again, she had been without visible emotion in the past and now she looked… without visible emotion. She had gotten a new face plate, that was honestly the only real difference Loki could see.

Then suddenly the Man Who Talk- ... Scott. Scott sat down in front of Loki. "Aww, what a cute little cat. Hey there, kitty."

Thor's eyes widened as Scott reached out to scratch Loki's head. "NO WAIT!"

Too late. Scott gave cry of pain as his hand was clamped between Loki's teeth. Loki growled as he released it, now oozing blood.

"Sorry!" Thor said as he picked Loki up. "L- Ragnar… He doesn't do well with people. Just leave him be okay?" he asked.

Clint lifted an eyebrow. "Is there a reason why Thor brought his pet?" he asked. "We already got one rabid furball. There's enough shedding in here already."

"HEY!" Rocket shouted, placing a paw on his... rather exceptionally large weapon. "If anyone's rabid here, I'd say it's you. All things considered."

"It's a teleporting cat Clint. It might just be useful." Bruce informed the man, fixing his glasses.

Damn, that guy still looked really weird! And hearing quiet reasonable speech from the Hulk was... disconcerting. Loki did his best to stay as far away from the abomination as possible. It wouldn't do to put too much trust in the creature's apparent good will.

"So." Thor hesitated. "What do we have?" he asked.

* * *

A time machine… They had build a time machine.

Wide-eyed, Loki looked at the monstrosity filling the spacious room, humming and buzzing, sparks flying everywhere. It looked like it was going to fall apart.

Loki tilted his head in consideration, then he jumped up to the table holding the computer screen and looked at the calculations… This… Was not going to work.

 _You inverted it, you bozos_. For a brief moment Loki considered turning into an Aesir to explain, but then he felt the presence of a big… BIG green thing right behind him and froze.

A pair of ginormous hands picked him up... Loki was still stiff as a board in terror and mortification. _Oh, Norns… Save me._

He barely registered that the hand were being careful, and almost missed the soft voice saying "I hope you didn't press any buttons." Bruce Banner held Loki for a moment as he looked at the screen then sighed deeply. "Okay, it looks good." He looked at the rigid cat again, then put Loki down on the ground. "Don't jump up there!" he lectured, pointing at the cat a big green finger before he turned back to the screen to make more calculations.

And Loki… just stood there in shock as he tried to get his heart rate back under control before staggered away . Perhaps the mortals would figure out on their own that they had inverted the process. They had gotten this far after all, half way there. He'd just ... leave them to it. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

Later, when they ran the tests which predictably didn't work, they just seemed confused and Loki groaned in annoyance.

_It's so simple, you bumbling idiots! You've almost got it right! Technically you have got it right, it's just inverted! Gah! How can you not see it!? How did you even manage to come this far in the first place?!_

It looked like it had all been stupid, dumb luck!

Loki groaned again. He was starting to consider it… really seriously consider it. It would be so _easy_ to just reveal himself and do it for them.

But he really, _really_ didn't want to.

The hawk, black spider and Captain he could deal with… The big ogre though? … The God damn ogre... nope. Just... no.

Just then a loud runble sounded from outside and Loki looked up to see a fancy car pulling to a stop. Everyone else gasped as well and ran for the door, opening it up just in time for one Tony Stark to step out of the car.

"Tony." Natasha gasped.

Tony sighed deeply. "I looked at the formulas you sent me." he admitted. "And well, theoretically, it's actually possible." he admitted. "Except, the plans you gave me were inverted."

Loki groaned, this time in relief. Finally. Someone with a bit of a brain.

* * *

It took Stark a grand total of ten minutes to correct all the calculations and get the machine up and running. Now without sparks and random buzzing as well.

_Thank the Norns! Someone competent!_

Then the discussion started, and once again the room descended into idiocy.

_Never mind._

"Wait, if we are going back in time, what will happen if we mess things up?!" Scott asked. "Will we just arrive back at a new present where everything is different?! I mean Hello! The butterfly effect!"

"We just have to make sure we won't be seen." Steve replied. "And put everything back the exact same way it was!"

Even Tony seemed to be frowning. "It is very risky." he admitted.

Loki groaned, _That's not how this is going to work, you idiots!_

"But as long as there is a chance right!?" Thor asked. "That's why we are even here!"

"Tony is right, though. We need to consider this very carefully." Bruce nodded. "Do one thing wrong and who knows what could happen? A new reality where Hydra won and took over? Or where we didn't win against the Chitauri the first time? There are a lot of possible bad results of messing up."

Loki couldn't take it anymore and just shouted. "THAT'S NOT HOW IT IS GOING TO WORK!"

Wide-eyed all turned to him.

"You are thinking of it wrong! The timeline is _not_ singular!" Loki started to explain. "When you go back, you will be creating new branches. _This_ timeline will stay the same."

There was silence, absolute silence.

Then Tony screamed. "AAARGH!" he shouted. "There's a naked Loki in the room!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Why is everybody so sensitive over this?! Yes, underneath our clothes we are _all_ naked! Get over it!"

"WHY ARE YOU NAKED!" Tony shouted. "AND WHY ARE YOU _HERE?!_ Aren't you supposed to be dead?!"

"I _was_ dead!" Loki snorted.

"The cat!" Scott stammered. "I saw it! The cat turned into Loki!"

"THE CAT WAS LOKI?!" Bruce shouted. "You weren't asking us to bring a cat! You were asking us to bring Loki!" he shouted at Thor.

"Loki knows about this kind of stuff, he's helping isn't he?" Thor asked.

"Could _someone_ give him a pair of pants?!" Tony asked with a resigned sigh.

"One wrong move and I'll shoot!" Natasha informed them, and true enough she had a gun pointed right at Loki's head.

Loki groaned. "I'm really not your problem right now! You are trying to undo the Snap! I want the same thing. Half of my people are gone too!"

" _Your_ people?!" Clint asked.

"Yes, _my_ people!" Loki stated. "I am still a prince of Asgard!"

"Ple-Please!" Steve asked, his entire face bright red. "There is a lady in this room! Just..."

Natasha lifted an eyebrow. "You really think I haven't seen worse?" she asked crossing her legs and finally lowering the gun. Then she smirked. "This is in fact how I prefer my men. Exposed, vulnerable." she leaned back as she sighed in that smile of hers. "And easy to kick in the dick."

"Please." Thor asked as he rushed towards Loki with a blanket in his hands, then wrapped it around Lokis shoulder before turning to the rest. "Just hear him out!"

Loki sighed deeply. "Okay… Okay I'll try to explain. So Thanos and I don't exactly have a friendly relationship." He said folding his hands. "After New Mexico I fell through space, Thanos picked me up. I was his prisoner for a bit, _she_ can testify to that!" Loki informed pointing at Nebula.

"That is true," Nebula confirmed. "I was his prison keeper."

"Thank you." Loki replied turning back to the others. "Anyway! I was Thanos's prisoner, until he decided to send me to New York. Against my own will I might add. And you all know what a spectacular fiasco all of that was! Fast forward to five years ago. Thanos killed me as punishment for my failure, then I made a deal with the Goddess of Death in the afterlife. Now I am a cat! But honestly, I think what you should focus on right now is that _you_ want to undo the snap. _I_ want to undo the snap! So really it's in everybody's best interest to agree on a truce." Loki stated. "By the way, I can only maintain humanoid form for so long. We got six minutes and twenty-three seconds left until I am forced back into my cat form, so can we move on now?"

There was stunned silence, as people tried to comprehend Loki's long ramble.

"GREAT!" Loki exclaimed. "Basic time theory! There are an infinite number of possibilities and thus there are an infinite number of timelines! Timelines which are constantly being multiplied! For instance, your timeline was just one timeline for a long time! Then suddenly, Tony was of two minds he couldn't decide if he wanted orange juice or apple juice! Then suddenly, the timeline split into two! One where Tony went for the orange and one where he went for the apple and each new timeline just continued from there! What you are going to do, is to travel back in this time line but then create a new split!"

Again everyone just looked beyond stunned.

"I'll be honest here guys." Scott began. "My head hurts."

Rocket snorted. "I suppose the point is we are cool. We won't be messing up our current timeline by traveling back."

"A crude way to put it, but basically correct." Loki replied.

Tonys eyes narrowed. "I've got second thoughts here." he admitted. "I don't really trust Mr. Crazy Pants' words. ...Well, Mr. Crazy _No_ Pants." he amended with a groan.

Loki glared at him. "Look, last time we met. You caught me at a _really_ bad time okay."

"You threw me out of a window!" Tony exclaimed.

"And _he_ smashed me into the ground way more times than what was necessary!" Loki exclaimed pointing at Bruce. "But I am willing to let bygones be bygones, Why can't you?"

"Erh lemme see." Tony looked at him. "You killed a couple of hundred humans." he said. "And Phill! You killed Phill."

"Is this really a discussion you want to have right now?" Loki asked.

"He was under the influence of the mind stone." Nebula suddenly spoke up and all turned to her, she though looked back at them. "The scepter he wielded." she explained. "When father first asked Loki to lead his army, Loki spat in his face. Said he was no one's servant. After he was broken, when Father offered Loki his freedom in exchange for the Tesseract Loki still said no. We used the scepter to plant suggestions into his mind."

"YOU SEE!" Loki gestured at Nebula.

Again, there was quiet.

"My head… really _really_ hurts." Scott informed them all.

"Meh, all I know is that there's a chance to get my family back." Rocket informed. "The angel pirate says this guy is good. Who am I to judge him? It's not like I understand any of this crap myself!"

Tony looked at Rocket. "We have a bit of a history you weren't involved in, okay?" he asked. "Darn it! Now my head hurts, too." he admitted rubbing his forehead.

Clint sighed deeply. "I can't believe I am saying this - believe me, it feels wrong. But I think we should just let Loki help out."

They all looked at him.

"It seems like we have a common enemy," Clint continued, "and a common goal. His knowledge could be very useful to us. Then we can figure out what to do with him _after_ this shit is over."

There was quiet and all looked at each other.

"So we all agree?" Loki asked quietly. "Okay, I'll consider your silence a consent which is good, because I have officially run out of magic. It is going to take twenty-three minutes and fourteen seconds before we will be able to speak again. If you got questions, ask then." he informed and then, the blanket just dropped and from it crawled a cat.

There was stunned silence as everyone just looked at the furry black creature that crawled out and shook itself. Thor coughed into his hand, just trying to break the awkwardness. It didn't really help much.

"He's not just lying is he?" Tony asked. "He's really stuck like that?"

"Aye." Thor nodded. "Believe me, if he could stay Aesir all the time he would. It's just not an option right now."

"Urggh." Tony groaned. "Wizards with magic necklaces, talking raccoon, blue alien cyborg chick… and a God who is now a _cat?_ Sure! Why am I even surprised by _anything_ anymore?!" he asked.

The rest just kind of shrugged.

"Fine!" Tony sighed looking up. "Let's just get this over with okay?" he asked. And again all just nodded. At least they were all on the same page on that one.


	22. The new guys

There was a starring contest going on. Two figures sitting absolutely still, glaring into each others eyes, neither one wanting to break away and thus admit defeat.

The archer, with an sullen angry expression vs. a black cat whose typical-bored-cat expression was belied by the intensity of his stare, slowly swishing tail and the deep growl sounding intermittently from his throat.

Clints eyes narrowed. Loki lifted a lip to show a hint of fang.

And they just continued sitting there. Staring.

It was honestly fascinating to see just how long they could keep going at it. It was even hypnotizing, in a way, so much so that several Avengers just stopped the things they were doing to watch before they shook their heads and moved on.

"I bet ten bucks Clint is going to break eye contact first." Tony stated as he was working on the time machine.

"I take that bet." Natasha replied as she stood beside Tony, observing him.

"You sure Nat?" Tony asked. "You do know Loki is a demi god right? And a cat! Starring at stuff is kind of what they do. And they don't stop. Trust me, you just can't win a staring contest against a cat."

"Clint is the best sniper SHIELD has." Natasha replied. "Part of his job is to keep eyes on a target for hours or even days while not moving an inch as that could reveal his position to the enemy."

"Oh my God, those two are caught in a deadlock aren't they?" Tony asked. "We lost them Nat! We are never going to get them back."

Natasha smirked, amused at his dramatic proclamation. Then her eyes softened. "Tony..." she hesitated. "It's good to see you. I really mean that."

Tony tensed slightly and paused in his work.

"Don't worry, I don't mean anything else by that." Natasha assured him. "Only that it's honestly good to see you."

Tony sighed. "I really didn't want to come back here." he admitted, relaxing. "There's just so much shit going on."

Natasha nodded. "I understand."

"It's good to see you too." Tony admitted and Natasha looked up. "Didn't know how this was going to go down but… It really is good seeing all of you."

Natasha's eyes were soft and she nodded again. "Yeah." she said.

"You really think this is going to work?" Tony asked.

Natasha shrugged. "I don't know." she admitted. "But I suppose there's nothing else for it than to try. I mean, what other options are there?"

Tony sighed deeply. "No other… There are no other options."

* * *

"Okay listen." Clint whispered, his eyes had still locked on Loki. "I don't trust you. I got no reason to! Any funny business from you and I _will_ shoot you!"

A louder growl than before came from the cat's throat. It was almost like he was saying 'Come at me bitch.'

Clints eyes became extra hard.

"HEY BOYS!" Natasha suddenly shouted from the machine. "Are you done measuring your dicks yet?"

Clint and Loki turned to Natasha simultaneously, with wide open eyes. "WHAT?!" "MEOOW!"

"Dammit Nat!" Tony exclaimed. "They turned their heads at the same time! Now we're never going to know!"

"It's for the better." Natasha commented. "As you said, we might have lost them forever if nothing had been done."

* * *

"Wow." Scott gasped as he stood in front of Thor. "So erhm, hey!" he waved his hand. "You weren't there with all the hero act stuff and so on, so we never met. Which is probably good, because if you were on Tony's side I might have gotten a hammer to the face. But if you were on Steve's side. That would have been cool."

Thor blinked. He was really confused right now.

"A-Anyway." Scott blushed deeply. "So, I am Scott Lang… Ant Man! Ant Man is my hero name. And I guess, I am an Avenger now!" he stated. "So I suppose the two of us, we're like team mates." he pointed from one to the other. "Not that you _need_ to consider me a friend! I just..." he gasped for air. "I watched New York on television and it was amazing it was like seeing honest to god real life heroes! And I was just… Wow. I never really thought I could become one of them, you know how crazy this is?!" he asked.

Thor smiled warmly and chuckled. "Well met, friend Lang. It is good having you here! If you had been nearby doing New York, I am sure you would have been of great aid!"

"yeaah… I don't know about that." Scott admitted rubbing his neck. "I'm just not exactly... Beside, I was kind of… held up at the time."

Thor looked at him.

"Prison. I was in prison." Scott admitted.

"Oh." Thor blinked. "Well, I assume you served your due."

"Absolutely!" Scott stated. "I have gone straight! I no longer do robberies!"

"Oh really?" Sam asked as he stepped up. "Then what were you doing trying to sneak into this _very_ facility some years ago?"

Scott closed his eyes.

"Well?" Sam asked.

"I wasn't trying to rob you!" Scott exclaimed. "I just… Needed to borrow a few things. So I could.. commit a heist at this other place."

"Heist?" Sam asked with crossed arms. "That's just another word for robbery isn't it?"

"NO!" Scott proclaimed. "There are steps to a heist! Besides it was for a good cause! Saving the world. You know, the thing heroes do!"

"Uh-huh." Sam nodded not looking very impressed.

"Hey you don't get to judge me!" Scott exclaimed. "I had gone straight, and it was because of _you_ guys I was nearly thrown back into the slammer. Remember?" he asked. "Instead it was _two_ years house arrest! All because Captain America was asking a favor and I thought. HEY! It's Captain America, that has to mean it's to protect the world right?!"

Sam winced.

"That's what I thought." Scott snorted. "A thank you would be fine."

Sam glared slightly at Scott, then turned to Thor. "Hey! Sam Wilson, code name Falcon. It is an absolute pleasure to meet you, Thor! And I hope we can work well together." He offered Thor a hand.

Thor grinned, happy to move on with the conversation and carefully grasping the proffered hand. "Well met Son of Will!"

Sam chuckled in amusement. "Man, you are just as impressive in person as on a telly screen." he commented.

Thor smiled. "I am glad I don't disappoint."

"So erhm, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but your brother...?" Sam hesitated.

"You need not fear!" Thor stated. "We all share a common enemy, his name is Thanos! Besides, Loki's abilities are currently very limited so even if he was inclined to harm you, I kind of doubt he could. I mean he can scratch you, and that hurts a lot believe me! I know! But he is going to have a hard time seriously hurting you."

Both Scott and Sam looked at Thor with an odd look in his eyes.

"He won't act to hurt you." Thor promised. "He has no interest in hurting any of you."

"Are you sure?" Scott asked. "You do know he _bit_ me right!" he pointed at his hand where the imprint of Loki's teeth was still clearly visible. "For the love of God, just tell me this doesn't mean I am cursed or something! I've got bad enough luck already!"

Thor chuckled. "No of course not. It does not work that way."

"Okay..." Scott hesitated lowering his hand. "Well, I'm going to take your word for that then."

"Not that you're in a position to judge is it?" Sam asked. "So what were you in prison for anyway?"

Scott pouted as he crossed his arms.

"Well?" Sam asked.

Scott sighed. "You know of Vistacorp right?" he asked.

"Yeah." Sam nodded.

"They were over-charging customers deliberately, super corrupt. Poor people were going bankrupt because they were tricked! I broke into their headquarters to hack their systems and return the money they owed to all the people they had scammed." Scott informed.

"They caught you for that?" Sam blinked. "That sounds like a whistleblower act. Didn't you get any protection?"

"Then I stole the car belonging to the CEO of the company and drove it into a swimming pool." Scott finished.

"Oh." Sam said. "Damn, for a fleeting second there I thought you were actually smart."

"I am!" Scott defended himself. "I got a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering!"

"That doesn't make you smart." Sam replied, and Scott just pouted.

Thor had no idea what these two had been talking about, so he was just smiling kindly.

These new Avengers… they seemed nice!


	23. Past shenanigans

"It's set up." Bruce informed them. "We are ready."

All the Avengers nodded seriously as they gathered around the quantum-time travel machine. Loki was sitting on a chair nearby, so he was at least off the floor as Tony and Scott began to explain how it was going to work with the special suits stored in bracelets.

They split up into smaller teams, and went over the details of who was going to go where and when for which stone, and known hazards and obstacles for each.

Loki tuned out much of the discussion. Thor was going back to Asgard to get the Reality stone while it was still inside of Jane. He'd have the snarky raccoon as back up, which Loki considered less than ideal. Really, though, Thor was the only choice for that one. He was the only one even remotely familiar with Asgard.

Well him and Loki… But Loki was staying behind. And the second Thor figured that out he just looked heart broken.

Damn that big teddy bear. Now Loki felt guilty for not going with Thor on this adventure.

"Okay people, fifteen minutes and we are going. Get ready!" Tony proclaimed and people spread out to make last minute checks and preparations.

Thor just stood there, chewing his lip and tightening his fists. He looked nervous, beyond nervous. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and then… he started to shake.

Loki jumped up and crawled under his robe on the table, transforming under it so he could walk over to Thor and place a grounding hand on his shoulder.

It seemed to help a little. Thor was still shaking, taking deep gasping breaths, but no longer hyperventilating.

"Norns. It's still so weird seeing you like this." Loki commented with a smirk whend Thor looked up. "When we were kids, you were never scared of anything. You would set your mind upon the dumbest, most reckless adventures that would obviously get you hurt and force me to step in and save your idiotic hide. But you never flinched."

Thor smiled, defeated. "I suppose at that time I thought I was invincible." he admitted. "Also… at that time, it was only myself I was concerned about."

Loki nodded. "We rarely considered that our actions might actually affect others did we?" he asked and Thor blushed deeply. "No need to look like that, I do believe we were equally guilty of that particular sin." he admitted.

Thor glanced up, his blue and golden eyes looking so innocent as he searched Loki's face for... something. Damn him, he had been through so much and he was still just a pure soul.

How in the All-Father's name was that possible?! Thor in the past had been so arrogant and ignorant! It had been his defining characteristic in their youth! But… he was never malicious.

Thor had never wanted to spread hurt, it was only that he never really thought about or grasped what the consequences of his actions might be. It simply hadn't occurred to him that Jotunns had feelings. Honestly, it hadn't really occurred to Loki either.

That was different now though, the complete opposite. Too much so, even.

Loki sighed. "We were raised always being told we were better than everyone else." he pointed out. That though only seemed to make Thor look even more ashamed. "I was just trying to say." Loki tried, but was lost for words. "I just... urghh." he groaned rubbing his eyes.

Thor closed his eyes. "What if I fail?" he asked in a quiet voice. "What if I'm just not good enough for this?"

"You won't fail." Loki stated simply, and Thor's eyes flew open.

"But..." Thor began.

"I just said it didn't I?" Loki asked. "You won't fail! And I am the smartest person here, so that must mean I am correct!"

Thor chuckled. "Thank you Loki."

Just then a big green ogre came stomping towards them. "Are you sure you don't want to join the party Loki?" he asked.

"I would if it was safe." Loki sighed deeply. "However, my existence in this timeline is already fluctuating. Trying to send me into the time stream could mess things up, and not just for me, but those traveling with me. This is too important to be reckless about."

Bruce nodded.

"Hey, since when have you two become buddy-buddy?!" Tony asked as he came over to join them.

Bruce shook his head. "We faced Ragnarok together Tony." he reminded the other genius.

"Right." Tony looked up. "You really think it's safe to leave Loki alone here?"

Bruce smirked. "Tony… If it was only Earth's population at stake, I might have had some doubts. But Loki is very loyal to his people. You didn't see it, but I did. In Asgard, Loki came back with a spaceship to provide an escape route for the Asgardians. All at his own risk! He didn't have to come, he could have gone the other way. But he _did!_ And he ran through the war zone with Surtur's crown to do what he had to do, at his own peril. Then… At the Statesman, he did all he could to distract Thanos. Buying the Asgardians as many seconds as he could to reach the escape pots, even when he _knew..._ Bruce swallowed and looked seriously at the genius. "He knew for sure it would kill him, Tony. He did it anyway. There were so many times Loki could just have legged it. He had the Space stone, he could have teleported away. But he never did. He stayed to the bitter end. He really cares about the Asgardians, Tony. He gave his life for them."

"Giving his life is perhaps going a bit far since he is standing _right here!"_ Tony pointed out.

"That doesn't change the fact that he did die. Even if it was a trick, it would still be an incredible dangerous one." Bruce sighed. "I trust him Tony. At least when it comes to rescuing his own people, I trust him." he stated. "I suppose in the end, actions just speak louder than words, and I saw it all myself."

"Damn, it's so weird hearing you say that." Tony admitted. "You're making Loki sound all good and heroic! It's weird!"

"A lot of things happened." Bruce smiled apologetically.

"I have only one thing to ask of you." Loki said to Tony, earning his attention.

"Yeah?" Tony snorted.

"Don't screw this up!" Loki demanded. "You are going to New York when my younger self invaded. Back then, I wasn't in my right mind but I was capable! So listen, because this is very important."

"Okay." Tony said.

"Remember _after_ you had caught me? I started to shapeshift into you guys just to annoy you."

Tony snorted. "Yeah I remember, and yes it was annoying:"

"You are missing the point Tony. I wasn't shape shifting _before_ you caught me. Only after! Neither was I using any illusions, even though they are my specialty. Why do you think that is?" Loki asked.

That made Tony blink, and he actually looked confused.

"The mind control is broken by a blunt blow to the head." Loki pointed at his head. "Before the HULK grabbed me and… did his thing," Loki ignored Bruce's embarrassment at the reminder and continued. "The scepter was suggesting things to me, and it simply _didn't occur to me_ to use any other abilities than those the scepter gave me. _It_ wanted to be the star of the show! _After_ our green friend was so kind to use me as his own private battering ram, the connection was broken, and I felt free to use my normal gifts again. Shapeshifting. Illusion. Teleportation - though the chains prevented me from doing the latter. More importantly, I had my eyes on the Tesserect. Not to hand it to Thanos - that desire had stopped the instant the connection was broken - but for personal use. I knew if I could lay a hand on it I could escape. So to put it simply… Do not give me one single opening!" he stated sternly. "Because if you give me the slightest chance, I _will_ be taking the Tesserect and you won't be able to retrieve it because I would have used it to just transport myself off world! You would never have seen me nor _it_ again."

Tony blinked. "Oh."

"Wait!" Bruce held up a hand. "What if we just catch the younger you earlier, like when you are on the Helicarrier. Give you a good head bash and explain the situation to you?"

"My other self will exist in a split time line, and he is going to know it. He is not going to become me and thus has no interest in what happens to me nor the Asgardians of _this_ timeline, only his own. In my right mind, not limited to what the scepter suggested, that pitiful excuse of a holding cell on the Helicarrier would not have held me for a second, and certainly won't hold him. Chances are he is just going to flee. I wouldn't risk it if I was you."

"You are a real piece of work you know that?" Tony asked.

"Let me put my situation at the time into perspective for you." Loki replied witha glare. "At that time, I was caught between three different forces." he held up three fingers. "Thanos, who had promised me that if I failed in my mission he would let me face a fate worse than death - I was literally promised I would 'long for something as sweet as pain'. And I do _not_ doubt him on that." he bent one finger. "Asgard, who wanted my head for treason! And I mean my literal head detached from my body! A more merciful fate, but not one I looked forward to." he bent a second finger. "And the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes who had all the reason in the world to think of me as an alien invader and cold blooded murderer! I don't know what kind of punishment Earth fancies, but I have a very good imagination and plenty of experience with Thanos' 'hospitality' to work from. So yes, if I had the slightest chance to just leave, I would take it without hesitation." he stated crossing his arms.

"Huh, really caught between a rock and a hard place there." Tony smirked, he didn't look sorry at all and Loki glared at him.

"Why didn't you explain any of that to us? Or to Odin?" Thor asked, honestly confused and a bit hurt.

"I wasn't prepared to grovel in front of Odin at that time, and given what our last interactions were honestly didn't - and still don't - believe he would have listened." Loki rolled his eyes. "And I was still pretty mad at you, too, Thor. I probably could have handled that situation better, but given how broken I was at the time, there was no one I felt I could trust enough to reach out to. It's in the past now, though, and cannot be changed."

Defeated Thor shook his head. "Pride has always been your greatest strength _and_ your greatest weakness brother." he stated.

Tony snorted. "If we can't change the past, what was that warning about not changing things for?" he asked.

Loki just gave him a look. "You cannot change _my_ past. You can only change the present of a past version of me - possibly to the detriment of all of our futures."

Tony sighed then glanced at his watch. "Five minutes guys! If there are any more last words of advice, now is the time."

Thor glanced around, then stepped forward and pulled Loki into a tight hug. At first Loki resisted, trying to get away before he sighed and just passively allowed Thor to affectionately crush his ribs. "It's not even a big deal, you're going to see me as soon as you get back." Loki rolled his eyes.

"I know." Thor admitted. "I just… I'm really happy we got this far!" he smiled warmly. "We are brothers once more! _Actual_ brothers! If you know what I mean."

Loki sighed deeply. "Thor, even when I hated it, hated _you_ , we were always brothers. You dumb oaf."

Thor grinned.

"Safe travel." Loki asked and Thor nodded.

"Thank you, brother."


	24. Death

Loki took as deep a breath as his cat body allowed.

He very well knew that, from his own perspective, this should only take minutes. From the Avengers perspective though, it could be anything between seconds and _years._ To be honest though, these felt like the _longest_ minutes in all of Loki's life! Seconds just stretched on, it felt like forever.

He had seen all the Avengers, Thor included, vanish. Thor had looked at him just as they went away, gone in a flash.

And now… this building was empty of even echoes of their presence. Weren't there supposed to be people?

Ah, but people had been barred from the area - top secret time machine and all of that… Damn, these people had been awfully trusting leaving their former enemy alone with the machine. He could easily destroy it and strand them all in their new split time lines.

Loki's ears twitched, trying to find the sounds of foot steps or voices. But there was nothing. The silence was bordering on oppressive and mischief was a tempting distraction from his circling thoughts. But, no. Bruce was right. He wouldn't touch it. Too much was riding on this.

Hela… Would she come? And how would it happen? Would he simply slip out of this body and find himself back at Hela's palace? Would all go to black? Or would he have to go through the pain of dying again?

No, he wouldn't think of it, could not just assume. Hela had said she would let him live out this cat life. He _had_ to believe she was speaking the truth. Even if she had been lying, it was not like he could do anything about it!

Suddenly, the machine started to hum, Loki looked up as figures started to form, each on their pad.

Thor, Banner, Stark, Lang, Nebula, the furball, Wilson, Barton and… Loki's eyes were on the last spot… It remained empty.

This could only mean one thing. Loki hadn't known Natasha Romanoff. He had no real opinion of her, yet his heart sank as the inevitable question came… Steve was the one to ask.

"Where's Nat?"

The look on Clint's face told the entire story.

The face reminded Loki of Thor during this past year, the anguish and sorrow was raw, and all too fresh.

Clint's primal scream of anguish had everyone reacting. Several of the Avengers moved to restrain him before he could harm himself, and he fought and thrashed in their hold. Others were shouting demands for explanations, and it seemed a fight was inevitable. Loki knew he had no right to interfere, the worst thing he could do right now was to remind these people of his presence.

So he did the only decent thing he could, jumping down from the table and leaving the room as they all broke together, now moving closer to each other, thankfully comforting each other rather than fighting.

At least her death had not been for nothing. Loki had noticed everyone coming back was carrying energy sources. Strong energy sources. Beyond anything normal living creatures could make. Six sources… THey had succeeded. They had the stones.

* * *

After about thirty minutes, the Avengers started to leave the room. Loki kept a close eye on the door where a few people came staggering out in different directions, none of them the one he was interested in… Finally Loki ventured back into the lab, only to find Thor gone. He had to have taken a different exit… Darn.

After a brief debate with himself, Loki just got over with it and went to his robe, then transformed back to his Aesir self. He frowned a bit before conjuring a pair of black pants to wear and finally… took a deep breath and walked over to the only person still in the room. The last person Loki wanted to talk to, really, but Clint Barton was the only one here.

"Erhm, pardon me." he asked softly and Clint looked up, his eyes red and puffy, filled with so much pain. "I was just wondering… If you might know where Thor went?"

"Outside I think." Clint replied. "Door there goes to the outside area." he pointed to his left.

Loki nodded. "Thank you." he breathed then added "I am sorry for your loss."

Clint snorted. "You don't have to act like you care."

"I won't be pretending that I knew her." Loki admitted. "I just know she was one of the few people alive able to outsmart me, and she meant a lot to Thor. Thus, she must have been a very special woman, and her demise would be a loss to everyone."

Clint blinked as he looked up. "That's… A surprisingly respectful thing to say." he had to admit.

"As a Prince, I was raised to be tactful, even if I often choose not to be." Loki replied with a slight smirk. Then his smile faltered. "You got all the stones."

"Yeah." Clint sighed. "Tony has gone to build a gauntlet for them, he says it's going to take a couple of hours. Don't get any funny ideas."

"Only _after_ everyone has been brought back would you possibly have reason to worry." Loki stated.

Clint lifted an eyebrow. "Do we have reason to worry?" he asked.

Loki shrugged. "I am the God of Mischief, trickery is my game. It would not be in my nature to tell you that."

"I suppose I had better keep an eye on you then." Clint stated.

"Indeed." Loki offered him a last nod and headed for the indicated door.

It was lovely outside. A field of grass stretched away from the sidewalk to a line of trees not far from them. The sun was shining here, the weather was just cool enough. Loki took in the view as he looked around. And there, sitting not too far away on a bench was Thor, holding a bottle of beer in his hand. He stared ahead at nothing as he lifted it to his lip and took a drink.

This time Loki was not going to stop him. Instead he walked over and sat down next to Thor. Thor sighed deeply, not commenting on Loki's presence, but taking another drink before he reached down and grabbed a second beer, wordlessly offering it to Loki.

Loki just accepted it, opening the bottle using just his hand and taking a cautious sip of the liquid Thor was so fond of.

Huh, this was pretty good. Not at all as bad as Loki could have feared.

"Funny huh?" Thor commented dully.

"What is?" Loki asked.

"It never gets easier." Thor breathed. "Mother… Father… Heimdal… You… Natasha. It hurts every single time."

"Good. That means you have a soul." Loki replied.

Thor froze, then closed his eyes. "Doesn't feel real... Feels like she is going to walk out that door any second now. Scolding me for having a long face. It never feels real does it? Knowing that... You won't ever see them again, talk to them again. Even have a fight." he sighed, taking another sip of his beer.

"She was a true warrior was she not?" Loki asked. "And she died a true warrior's death, a death of honor. Saving the universe at her own peril. Facing her fate with no hesitation, most likely. She must be on her travel towards Valhalla."

Thor sucked in a breath, but then nodded. "Aye." then he leaned back. "We did it. …That doesn't feel real, either."

"Do not celebrate just yet, Thor." Loki asked. "Wait until the Snap has been undone, then you can breathe easily."

Thor nodded then he frowned. "Honestly it seemed too easy." he admitted. "All that talk about being ready, I scarcely did anything. It didn't require all that training at all." he frowned.

That made Loki freeze… Hela had said Thor needed to be ready! She had even sent Loki down to make sure of it.

But if it wasn't for the time travel bit, was there still then more to come? What could it be? What did they sti-

"Loki!" Thor gasped, earning Loki's attention. Thor turned to him, meeting his eyes. "I talked to Mother!"

"Huh?" Loki looked at him.

"She was there! In Asgard of days past and she… kind of discovered me and outed me." Thor admitted. "I didn't have to tell her anything though, she already knew I was a different Thor than the one she knew."

"Well… she _was_ raised by witches." Loki said, taking another sip of his own drink.

Thor nodded. "I am so happy that..." he gasped. "I got to tell her the greatest news of all."

"Oh?" Loki asked.

"Mother, I said to her." Thor breathed. "In the present, Loki seems so lost. But in the future, we are figuring it out! Loki is with me, _really_ with me! He is amazing, Mother, supporting and helping Asgard in a way I never could!"

Loki was quiet.

"And the way she looked at me." Thor smiled. "Such relief and such happiness, she hugged me tight and asked me to take care of you. She said that all she ever wanted was for both of her sons to find happiness! She sends you her love, Loki! She asked me to tell you that you will always be her son! And she loves you!"

Loki's eyes prickled with tears. Thor's words had come out of nowhere. He barely even knew what to say.

"And she also said to me that I shouldn't be so hard on myself." Thor shook his head. "She said... 'Odin is expecting too much of you. He is looking for an ideal, but you're just a man, like everyone else. And there is no shame in that. I love you so much, Thor.' " at that Thor had to wipe his own eyes. " 'Stop trying to be what you think everyone else want you to be, and just be you. The best you can be... And look after Loki.' Those were her words."

Loki looked at Thor, his throat was in a tight knot and his own eyes wet, then he wiped them with his sleeve.

"You didn't need to tell her I was supporting Asgard when that's not true." Loki managed to get over his lips.

"Erh Loki, all your work! The texts you've written down." Thor pointed out. "That is true support. Is it not? They can help not just one generation, but many!"

Loki halted.

"And Mother could always tell when I was lying! She believed me, so I _can't_ have been lying." Thor smirked.

Loki shook his head, taking another sip of his beer.

Thor gave him a concerned look. "Loki, I don't wish to be rude but… Aren't you supposed to be turning back into a cat around now?"

"You are correct, I am over the usual time limit." he acknowledged with a smirk. "However, there are currently six infinity stones in my close proximity. I am basically _bathing_ in energy right now. So, I am good."

"So you don't have to turn back?" Thor asked.

"Well, for now." Loki sighed. "Apparently they want to put all the infinity stones _back_ so." he shrugged drinking some more beer.

"What if we..." Thor halted. "Kept one?"

Loki smirked. "Why Thor? Are you suggesting to resort to trickery to keep such a stone for yourself?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." Thor admitted.

Loki shook his head. "Honestly… Having such a massive power in New Asgard would only invite trouble nobody needs. The most powerful beings in the universe would be knocking at our door to get it. It's not worth it. You have an excellent opportunity to just get rid of them for good. I say take it."

Thor nodded. "Probably a good idea. I mean, every single time we had one of those blasted stones it always ended in disaster!" he stated. "No wonder father hid the Tesserect on Earth. It was just too much trouble, wasn't it? Just look at what happened when _you_ tried to take it with you!"

"You really don't need to remind me Thor, I _died_ remember?" Loki asked as he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, trust me, I remember." Thor nodded then sighed deeply. "I remember all three times you pulled that one. And believe me, it never got any easier."

Loki halted, his heart clinching and he swallowed hard. "Pulled that one... as if any of them were mere _tricks_."

"I know, but if you could do me a favor, Loki, and stop dying every two seconds, that would be nice." Thor commented.

Loki snorted. "Is that your attempt at humor Thor?" he asked.

"Yes." Thor admitted.

"It's terrible." Loki stated and Thor smirked.

"So, what's your answer then?" Thor asked.

"To what?" Loki asked.

"Stop dying." Thor said.

Loki groaned as he closed his eyes. "Thor, you ought to know by now, it doesn't work that way! People don't get to plan their deaths! I wasn't _planning_ to fall from the Bifrost! Nor was I _planning_ for Thanos to choke me."

Thor looked at Loki. "But you were planning for Malakith to stab you?" he asked.

"Not exactly. That's... different." Loki grimaced. "Anyways, that's beside the point! So I sort of planned for _one_ fake death! It's not like it was some mere jest at your expense. It was _you_ who promised to 'reward' my faithful service with eternal imprisonment. I was simply willing to risk true death for a chance at freedom. I'd been caged and bound in one way or another for so long..." He shook his head to throw off the memories. "Whenever I was in real, life-threatening danger, it really was _not_ planned, okay! I don't actually _like_ dying, Thor. Dying _hurts_! A lot."

Thor quieted. "I… I'm sor-"

"Don't." Loki cut him off. "Just... Just forget it."

Thor was looked at Loki, his eyes nervous. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I'm not sure." Loki admitted. "You were supposed to be ready, for something important. A great task. I am not sure if this was it."

"Then what could it be?" Thor asked.

"That's the issue isn't it? I don't know!" Loki exclaimed and Thor was quiet.

"I… I'll stay alert then." Thor nodded and Loki sighed.

"Aye, that's probably wise."


	25. Roles

Loki was not entirely sure what to think of the gauntlet Tony had created.

The original infinity gauntlet had been very elegant and strong in its design, a beautiful piece! This one… looked like crap.

Well, as long as it worked, he supposed the aesthetic was the least concern. And it did indeed seem like it would work, using electronics to connect the stones and allow a wielder to do the snap.

That left the big question, though… Who was going to wield it?

"That's it, isn't it?" Thor asked Loki with a gasp. "I was supposed to be ready for something. This is it! I am supposed to bring them back!" he grinned.

Wide-eyed Loki looked at Thor. It was obvious why Thor wanted to do it. in Thor's mind, he had been at fault for their original failure and wanted to redeem himself, at any cost.

However, from the buzzing of the stone-studded glove and how Loki still felt himself drenched in energy just being around it, he already knew that if Thor tried to wield it then… Loki swallowed... Thor would _not_ be able to exit unharmed. Not even Loki could tell what the consequences would be, but they would be bad.

"Wait." Bruce interjected. "You know what sort of energy those stones are releasing? Gamma! And you know what I am filled with? GAMMA!" he pointed at his chest. "I have a better chance!"

"But." Thor started to object. "Do you indeed think you are strong enough?" he asked.

"Thor! Ever since that accident happened - the accident that turned me into the HULK - I have been waiting, waiting for a reason!" Bruce stated. "This is it, don't you see?"

Loki frowned. Wait…

"Friend Banner, it was my failure which let to Thanos victory! I ask of you, let me set it right!" Thor asked.

"WAIT!" Loki shouted and they all turned to him. "You are thinking about it wrong again!" he stated. "You are working on the assumption that only one person should wield it. But what if multiple people wielded the stones _together._ Lending each other power?!"

"Huh?!" Everyone eyes were at Loki.

"This is perfect!" Loki walked to Bruce. "It's true! You are _drenched_ in energy similar to that of the stones! You are the perfect conductor, so you wear the gauntlet and stand in the middle! Then we need one person for each stone." Loki stated looking around. "Someone whom has either managed to defy the stone in some way and thus can claim mastery or have a special connection! STARK!" he shouted. "Mind!" he pointed.

Tony blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"The stone had no power over you, you will be its wielder!" Loki stated. "Step over here!"

Tony halted, but then walked over to Bruce. "And?" he asked.

"When Bruce puts on the gauntlet, touch him! He will be conducting the energy." Loki stated then looked around. "THOR! Strength!" he pointed.

Thor sighed in relief and stepped forward.

"Captain Rogers, the Man Out of Time. TIME!" Loki proclaimed.

"Huh, oddly enough that makes sense." Tony had to admit as Steve stepped forward.

"Reality." Loki tapped his lip as he looked around at the others.

"Let me do it!" Rocket asked. "Please! This is my family we are talking about, the only family I have ever known!"

Loki nodded. "Very well. I myself shall take Space."

"Now hold on." Tony said.

"Space and I always seemed to have a connection. And besides, it can't hurt you having the strength of _two_ gods in this, can it?" Loki asked. "That only leaves one." and he turned to Clint.

Clint swallowed. "Soul." he breathed. "Me?"

"You are the rightful owner now." Loki replied. "You paid a steep price, and the stone has become attuned to you and the pain you feel."

"Nat." Clint closed his eyes then he looked up. "Good! I stand for both Nat and myself! This is for her!"

"So we are just going to chill out back here?" Scott asked as he pointed at himself, Sam and Nebula.

"If you would." Loki asked, then he paused. He turned to Nebula; she coldly returned his look, and Loki frowned.

"Loki?" Thor asked.

Slowly Loki stepped forward, until he was right in front of Nebula. "Do you not wish to aid?" he asked. "To undo your father's work."

Nebula was quiet, her eyes harsh and without emotion.

Then Loki reached up a hand… and ripped the bronze plate from her head.

In a move so fast the others could barely register, Nebula screamed in rage as she launched for Loki, Loki dodged her strike and launched back at her, trying to grab her.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" Scott shouted.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Rocket shouted. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" he jumped at Loki's leg, giving Nebula an opening to kick Loki in the stomach and Loki fell to the floor as Nebula turned and ran.

"YOU FOOL!" Loki hissed. "That's not _your_ Nebula! There's been a swap! That's the one from the past!"

"What?" Rocket asked.

Clint gaped. "SHIT! They took her, but I thought she had escaped!"

"Clearly not. They made a switcharoo!" Loki seethed.

"What does that mean?!" Tony asked.

"That we need to hurry!" Loki hissed. "We have to do the snap _now!_ BRUCE!" he shouted.

At once Bruce reached for the gauntlet which expanded to fit his hand as he put it on. "What now?!"

"Everyone who has been assigned a stone, touch Bruce!" Loki shouted putting a hand on Bruce's chest. "Try to make a connection with your own stone! Think of it, of the thing it represents! Feel the power, and lend it your power!" he demanded as he had already made a connection with the Space stone in the gauntlet.

Everyone nodded as they rushed to Bruce, putting a hand on him on various places. Thor putting his hand next to Loki's and they looked at each other, smiling grimly.

Bruce was gasping.

"You feel everyone's power Bruce?" Loki asked. "Use it! It's yours to use."

Bruce nodded as he raised the hand with the gauntlet. "Please, bring them back. Bring everyone back!" he asked and made… one single snap.

The energy just tore through Loki's body, filling every fiber and every nerve. Thor also gasped for breath as the shock went through them and then… There was silence.

Tony, Clint and Rocket all fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Steve was stumbling and Bruce was taking deep breaths, then held his arm.

"Friend Banner, are you hale?" Thor asked.

"Yeah… My hand just feels burned." Bruce admitted as Thor put his hands on the gauntlet for him and pulled it off, revealing a blackened, burned hand that Bruce looked at with a combination of horror and resignation.

"That would have been much worse if you had tried to do that alone." Loki informed him, as he gently touched the arm above the damage. "This will heal… Had you done it by yourself, it would not have."

Bruce sighed deeply. "Thank you." he said quietly.

"So." Tony swallowed, finally catching his breath. "Did… Did it work?"

A phone rang. Clint gasped as he looked at the table. Slowly, as if he didn't dare hope, he moved closer.

Everyone was quiet as Clint picked up the phone, then gasped as he saw the screen and immediately took the call putting the phone to his ear. "La-Laura?" he asked.

There was silence and then. Clint gasped a sob, smiling through the tears that formed in his eyes.

That alone was answer enough… It had worked.

"Loki!" Thor gasped. "You think the Asgardians?!" he asked his eyes wet.

"You have a phone now don't you?" Loki asked. "Why not just call Valkyrie?"

And Thor gasped. "Aye! Aye of course!" he grinned, his entire face shining. "Loki, we are going to have so much work when we get back. Twice as many Asgardians to house! But we'll pull through! I know it!"

Loki chuckled amused. "Of course we will." he stated just as the ground shook.

Wide-eyed Thor looked up. "What… Was that."

Loki swallowed. "Nothing good." he replied with a wide-eyed look at Thor. "What-ever you do… Don't let them get the gauntlet!"

And the next moment, everything just exploded. Loki was thrust to the ground as debris came from everywhere! All Loki could hear was a tremendous noise, and all he saw was blasting light and then… Darkness.


	26. Final battle

Loki groaned… It was dark, and it was wet.

His body hurt and something heavy was pressing him down.

Loki tried to struggle, tried to get the object off him but found it too heavy. Failing to move it, he tried to yell to see if anyone was in hearing range, but the sound that escaped his throat was not words… It was a whine belonging to a much smaller animal.

Oh right, his default body was now that of a cat. And when a shapeshifter sleeps or loses conscious they will go back to their normal body.

Then he heard big heavy foot steps, belonging to a larger male. Thor? Loki meowed to signal for help.

The person stopped. "A cat?" a voice asked… Not Thor. "Wait, Loki right?" It was… Steve Rogers.

Loki meowed again and finally the figure came closer. "Loki." Steve sat down in front of him, then gently touched his face. "Hang on. I got you. You'll be okay." and Loki felt the large debris being lifted from his body and thrust away.

Steve hesitated. "Okay, I really hope I am not hurting you any further." he said, then gently picked up Loki and held him in his arms. "Oh, hang on." Steve bowed down picking up Lokis green robe which was now filled with dust, and wrapped it around Loki like a kitty blanket. "There we go." he halted then he looked up. "It doesn't sound good up there."

Lokis ears twitched as he raised his head… There were noises, but they seemed to be drowned out. Maybe he had hit his head. Probably actually.

"Just rest Loki. I'll get us out. I promise." Steve breathed.

Damn, this guy really was one of the soft-hearted kinds, and not just pretending to be. Huh, so another one of Thor's good influences it seems.

Loki didn't object, but allowed Steve to carry him around as the super soldier was forced to kick away debris and push beams aside to make a path.

Just then a small voice sounded. "CAP!"

Steve had to look around, then looked down to see a little tiny man standing on a big rock. "Scott."

The little man became a regular sized man in the next second and removed his helmet to reveal a disheveled Scott Lang. "You okay?" Scott asked.

"I'm fine, but Loki might be hurt." Steve breathed and Scott looked down to see the cat in Steve's arm.

"Seriously?" Scott asked.

"Could you hold him for a while?" Steve asked. He didn't even wait for a response to just shove Loki into Scott's arms. With both his own arms free, he could grab a big block of debris and pull it aside.

Scott blinked, then looked at the green-wrapped cat in his arms. "You better not bite me again." he murmured.

Loki could not bother to even respond, just laid his head down.

With Steve clearing a path, they moved steadily forward until they hit a big steel wall and Steve's face fell. "We have to turn around." he had to admit. "This is a dead end."

"No it's not." Scott informed them, shifting Loki back to one arm as he stepped forward and reached into his pocket. "Fair warning, that wall is probably supporting the things above us so when I throw this thing, just run."

Steve looked at him. "You are not going to blow it up are you? If that is the case, I need to ask you to stop right now!"

"Nope, no blowing up. This is way cooler." Scott informed as he threw the object and in the next second, the wall just shrank, shrank into a tiny little doll size and Loki's eyes widened.

What powerful, awesome magic was this?! Manipulating the size of not just himself but the objects around him?!

"RUN!" Scott shouted and both did just as debris above them started to fall down and finally they broke their way outside to the fresh air.

The moment they were out though, Steve and Scott halted, wide-eyed at what lay before them.

"Well…." Scott commented. "Shit."

Because right there, spreading in front, were ships upon ships, coming from massive dimensional holes. And even before they landed, creatures were jumping out of it.

An army… A massive army. It made the army Loki had commanded look like an utter joke! This one was…

Loki gulped, they were so screwed right now.

Just then a familiar voice shouted. "FRIEND ROGERS!"

And Loki sighed in relief as both Scott and Steve turned to see a familiar blond coming towards them with Clint and Sam.

At the sight of Loki, Thor shouted. "LOKI!", picking up his pace and nearly crashing right into Scott before he managed to stop.

"Please! Take him!" Scott asked holding Loki out. "I don't want him!"

"Loki are you hale?!" Thor asked at once, ignoring Scott as he took Loki.

Loki groaned. How was he supposed to answer that question as a cat?! And Thor was currently holding him!

"Loki, please!" Thor pleaded.

Loki just gave in and turned back to Aesir while Thor was _still_ holding him. Thor's eyes widened in shock at the sudden weight as both fell down on the ground, Loki on top of Thor.

"I'll live, Thor." Loki informed him as he picked up his robe and gently slipped it on properly, not bothering to move from his seat on Thor's chest. "Everything just hurts, but I don't really think this is the time to be concerned about that, do you?" he asked, finally standing up.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Thor asked, laying on the ground gasping for air.

Loki just shrugged, not bothering to offer a reply, then he looked back towards the ships coming in.

"What do we do?" Sam asked, his voice shaking.

"Isn't it obvious?" Steve asked. "Those people are here to fight. So we fight."

"WHAT?!" Scott shouted. "Are you insane! There are millions of them! I mean look at all that shit. And we are just." he looked around at them. "LESS THAN TEN!"

Steve smirked. "We've done it before. We were just six people fighting an entire army."

Loki lifted an eyebrow. "You do know this doesn't even remotely compare, don't you?" he asked. "The army I was leading was a _fraction_ of this one! And I myself, the leader of that army, stood without a chance against Thanos. He killed me easily. And he is the real general here."

"Doesn't matter." Steve stated. "When enemies knocks on our door, we make a stand. No matter how bad the odds. That's just how we do things."

"You may as well listen to Cap." Tony shouted as he came flying from above and landed among them. "He is stubborn as hell, you won't be able to change his mind." he stated. "However, Lokes, if you feel like running, no one here is going to stop you." he spread out his arms. "Feel free, we got bigger concerns than you. Obviously."

Loki snorted as he crossed his arms. "I'm not running!" he stated.

"Come on, know you want to." Tony mocked.

"You know what that man did to me?!" Loki shouted pointing at the army, though clearly he meant Thanos. "To the Asgardians?!" he exclaimed. "To THOR!"

Thor gasped.

"Don't get sentimental." Loki held up a hand. "Now is not the time." he faced the army and then he let his robe transform. Transform into armor, complete with a long green leather jacket, long elegant boots. A chest piece in golden colors and wrist cuffs matching it. "My point is that only an utter fool would not _wish_ to run. That is not the same as doing so. So, we are just going to face our death proudly charging in like a bunch of idiots?" he asked.

"Pretty much." Clint informed pulling out his bow.

"How are _any_ of you people still alive?!" Loki asked as he summoned two daggers into his hands.

"Honestly?" Tony asked. "If I have to take a guess... dumb luck!"

"Sounds about right." Scott sighed.

"Wait." Sam blinked as he looked around. "Where's Bruce?"

As if in answer, the ground started to rumble. They looked at each other in confusion as a massive green figure barrelled up and out of the collapsed building behind them. Assorted debris and dust fell from his shoulders as, with a mighty jump he flew upwards, high up in the air with all of them looking on. Reaching the top of his arc, the figure starting to fall down, heading straight towards one of the spaceships. They watched in awe as he lifted his fists and roared. "HULK SMAAAAAAAAAASH!"

Hulk plummeted right into the nearest ship and _through_ the ship, breaking it in two before he fell down on the ground in a big crash releasing a huge cloud of dust, and as the dust slowly settled it was Bruce, sitting on one knee gasping, then he stood up and spread out his arms as he roared. "AAARGGGHHHH!"

"Well." Loki blinked. "I suppose, once a beast always a beast, huh?"

Then a second figure, enveloped in golden light, came flying down. As if to show up the Hulk, she flew through _three_ ships, leaving big holes in them and they exploded behind her before she landed in front of them as she grinned. "Hello boys, seems to me you could use a hand."

Loki blinked as he looked at her then threw up his arms. "WHERE THE HELL WERE _YOU_ FIVE YEARS AGO?!"

The woman snorted. "You think Earth is the only planet in the universe? I had other concerns."

"Other concerns than the fate of _the entire universe?!"_ Loki asked. "The snap would affect ALL planets, including whatever stupid backwater you think you were protecting."

The womans eyes narrowed. "You want a fist in the face? We can arrange that."

"STOP!" Thor stepped between them. "Not now!" he asked. "Loki, this is Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel. Lady Danvers this is Loki, he is on our side now! And we are still outnumbered a million to one so, please, I ask a truce of both of you." he folded his hands.

"FINE!" Loki held exclaimed. "For the record though, I do _not_ like this woman!"

"That's rich. Coming from a former alien invader." Carol commented coldly.

"You don't have to like her, you just have to help us kick some alien butt." Tony shrugged.

Loki sighed deeply. "Fair enough."

Then in front of them, Bruce was charging toward an airship that had just landed and roaring as he stormed through its defenders, grabbing Chitauri left and right and just smashing them together.

"Dude, the party is starting without us." Tony pointed out, his helmet closing. "WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?!" and he flew in.

"Watch over me, Nat!" Clint shouted as he ran forward as well, bow raised and an arrow already nocked.

"FOR ASGARD!" Thor roared as he charged in.

Loki groaned as he watched them. "I have done so many dumb things in my life, but this has to be the dumbest one."

"Yeah… I feel you." Scott sighed deeply. "It'll be okay." he patted Loki on the shoulder.

Loki snarled at him. "Don't touch me."

"Sorry!" Scott exclaimed lifting his hands. "I was just… I mean. I thought… we could have like a moment or... I don't know." he shrugged.

Loki's eyes were stone cold.

"Okay." Scott breathed. "Well." he turned to the battle field. "For Earth! And avenging and justice and stuff!" he exclaimed as he, too, took off running. Loki sighed again as he held his daggers and teleported into the middle of the chaos, not being stupid enough to yell a rallying cry that would give away his position.


	27. Fight for our lives

Surrounded by enemies, Loki flipped backwards to avoid a strike, slit the throat of a Chitauri, and kicked another of the alien creatures so it flew into a group of approaching soldiers. Grabbing another Chitauri, he broke its neck, then threw three daggers at once, all planting themselves into enemy aliens' necks before summoning two new daggers. He used one to block an incoming attack and the other to stab a big ogre-like thing, burying the dagger to its handle before he kicked the ogre away so the knife was pulled free, only to throw it so it landed in the chest of yet another enemy.

It felt like he was killing a hundred enemies a minute, plowing a furrow of Death through the battlefield. But it was laughable, honestly. The piles of corpses he had created didn't make even the slightest dent into this army.

Thor was nearby, cutting a swath with Stormbreaker, killing dozens of enemies with each swing as well as with bursts of pure electricity frying his foes.

Suddenly the two were right next to each other, their shoulders nearly touching as they continued to fight, more in sync than they had been in centuries.

"Ah, this is bringing back memories. Isn't it Brother?" Thor asked, lifting his ax to parry before cutting down the five Chitauri in front of him.

Loki rolled his eyes as he sent out a burst of pure magic, thanks to the infinity stones still being so close he could draw on their energy. It helped. "We've been in a lot of stupid situations Thor. Most of them both deadly and avoidable. This tops them all!" he growled as they swapped places to start on the other waves.

"Even when we sneaked into that volcano on Muspelheim to try our might against that lava dragon?" Thor asked, the air crackling with his latest burst of lightning.

"Even then." Loki replied, slicing an arm off and kicking his latest opponent away. "And by the way, that was _you_ dragging _me_ into it! It's always you dragging me into your stupid quests!"

Thor shrugged, bashing another head in. "And when we traveled to Utgard just to see if we could slay a Helhound?" Thor asked decapitating his next enemy .

"That was _your_ idea!" Loki proclaimed grabbing a head and twisting it so the neck snapped as another dagger simultaneously found a new home nearby. "I told you it was a stupid idea! You said it would prove our manhood! Prove _what?!_ That _neither_ of us have a brain?!" he asked.

"Yeah, that was a stupid idea." Thor conceded, roasting another ten enemies.

"You're telling me! I told you that. But did you you listen?! NOOOOO!" Loki rolled his eyes holding up his hands and send a giant wave of ice energy spearing several enemies with the sharp icicles.

"So which one is it?" Thor asked.

"WHAT?!" Loki shouted.

"Which is dumber? This or the Helhound?"

"THIS!" Loki shouted as they shifted yet again to watch each others' backs, each working on each their own mountain of corpses.

Finally there was a break, and the two gasped for breath, slumping slightly with their backs to each other. "Norns." Loki panted. "We are going to be worn out before we even reach a general."

"We just have to push through! There is a chance!" Thor gasped. "This is it, isn't it? What you needed to make me ready for. Which means there _has_ to be a chance to win this!"

Loki blinked, he hadn't thought about that. Thor had a point, though! Hela would not have gone through all this bother if they were just going to lose now. So they did have a chance! How though, how?

Suddenly, something glowed in the air. Loki looked up in time to see a big orange portal open up and a number of dark-skinned warriors wearing a foreign armor stepping through.

There were _hundreds_ of them.

"Loki!" Thor gasped. "BACK UP!"

Loki frowned. "It won't be enough." he commented, just as another portal opened and from it came people wearing robes looking just like Wong's and he gasped. "Sorcerers!"

Thor grinned. "Just one sorcerer is worth ten great warriors!" he stated and Loki blinked as he looked at Thor. "What?" Thor asked.

"A sorcerer worth ten warriors?" Loki asked. "That's… Not how it goes, Thor. Sorcerers are cheaters right, not as honorable as warriors? Asgard says..."

"TO HEL WITH ASGARD!" Thor shouted and Loki blinked. "Many warriors are just jealous."

And Loki gaped at him, speechless. Thor just grinned back and he couldn't help but smile. Even blushed as he looked away, taking in the next portal that opened and out came…

Thor gasped, he grinned and waved his arms. "VALKYRIEEEEEE!"

And true enough, it was Valkyrie on her flying steed leading the troops of New Asgard. For so long, Loki had only seen them wearing worn out Midgardian clothes, but here they were, wearing armor and wielding weapons as they roared and came through the portal, ready for the battle.

For a minor second when Loki realized they saw him standing beside Thor, weapons in hand, he was afraid. Afraid they were going to be angry. But then...

"FOR OUR KING AND PRINCE! HEROES OF ASGAAAARD!" They charged forward.

"Evening the odds?!" Thor asked. "I LIKE IT!" he shouted as he swung his weapon once more.

Even Loki suddenly felt a wave of energy hitting him, and somehow slicing up a hundred more enemies just seemed so much easier. Shooting Thor a grin, they split, each running their direction to help out their own group.

Loki got his eyes on a group of Asgardians who were becoming overwhelmed. They were huddling together in a group, surrounded by enemies. They were fighting well - holding their own through sheer derseration, but their focus on nearby enemies left them unaware of the alien with white skin and greasy hair lifting his hand to release a beam of pure energy. Loki saw him, though, and the second before it hit the Asgardians, Loki raised a shield and blocked the attack, using it to blast through the ground troops his people faced, making them all turn to him.

"I think not, Ebony Maw." Loki stated.

"Oh." The white alien regarded him. "You seem familiar. So our counterparts failed to kill you?" he asked. "Well, this must be rectified."

Loki snorted. "You sure sound full of yourself for someone who doesn't know what happened to your other self. What makes you think I wasn't the one killing you?" he asked. "You know what happened to our Thanos?" he made a motion with his hand, right over his threat signaling decapitation.

Ebony Maw's eyes narrowed.

"You've got my brother to thank for that by the way." Loki smirked. "He freed Thanos' head from his body once. What makes you think he won't do it again?"

Maw growled, sending waves of magic at Loki, who dodged, using a controlled tumble to put more space between himself and the Asgardians so they'd not be in the line of fire and returning fire as the roll brought him back to his feet.

Suddenly black long needles coalesced around Ebony and were sent flying towards Loki who simply formed thousands of ice shards that hit each needle, breaking them.

Maw sneered. "You have grown stronger."

"Actually, not really." Loki replied. "You have just never seen me at my full power. When Thanos picked me up, is was after I had fallen through the void… For so long. With no food or water, no place for rest. Then, you had your fun playing around with me, never allowing me to recover fully before you sent me to Midgard. I suppose from your perspective, this is right after that failure. So you've never seen what I am truly capable of"

Ebony Maw's mouth was a thin line.

"You never let me fully recover on purpose. You knew that if you ever allowed me to actually, genuinely recover, I would beat your ass." Loki smirked.

"Well. Let's test that theory shall we?" Ebony asked and they attacked each other once again.

They seemed to be pretty evenly matched, both heavy users of magic… How-ever, it was only when they fought with magic they were even.

Loki had already noticed Maw was not a physical fighter. He relied solely on the magic, and that's where Loki had his advantage. If he could come close to Maw, Maw would be done for.

It was his plan, he dodged, blocked, dodged again and then he created an illusion.

Maw smiled as he looked at the illusion. "there you are!" he lifted his hand, and the needles flew straight through the illusion, making it vanish.

Maw paused, only for a knife from behind to tear right into his throat. The alien fell to the ground revealing Loki behind him. "God of Trickery." he simply stated before giving the corpse a final kick.

Loki allowed himself a brief moment of satisfaction at taking down one of his chief tormentors before looking around to reorient himself to the battle and figure where his skills could best be used. He quickly came to a horrifying realization: The gauntlet was out in play!

This wasn't good! If Thanos got the gauntlet then…

Loki started to run. "VALKYRIE!" he shouted up in the air at the woman riding her horse and she looked down. "I NEED A LIFT!"

Valkyrie didn't even pause to question him, swooping down so Loki could jump up and grab Valkyrie's hand, letting her pull him up behind her.

"Where to?" Valkyrie asked.

"UP! I need to have a look at the field! Figure the true owners of each Infinity Stone!" Loki gasped.

"What?" Valkyrie asked.

"JUST GET ME INTO A POSITION WHERE I CAN SEE!" Loki shouted and they flew upwards and he looked out at the field, then he put a finger to his head as he looked around. "Carol Danvers, can you hear me?"

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Was the response in Loki's mind. "Are you inside of my head!"

"Yes, listen to me!" Loki exclaimed. "We've only got one shot at this. Tony, Thor, Rogers. You are all on the line as well."

"Yeah." "AYE BROTHER!" "Erhm, yes." Was the response from the three.

"Listen to me, we need to act quickly. Each stone has a proper wielder we need to get the Stones to their places!" Loki stated as he looked around. "I am trying to figure out which goes where."

"Isn't it the same as before?" Thor asked.

"No, you were just the best we had at hand at the time." Loki informed him. "Though Clint is still the true owner of Soul! Get him the Soul Stone! The sorcerer with the red cape, he is the master of Time! Get him the Time Stone! As for the rest... the rest, come on… Come on. THERE! The sorceress with red hair! She has a special link to Mind!" he gasped.

"You mean Wanda?" Tony asked.

"She uses sorcery. She has red hair. I don't know her name!" Loki cried, annoyed. "Get me Space again, Thor Power!" he looked around. "Reality… Who could possibly...?" he desperately looked around then he halted. "Seriously?"

"You found someone suitable?" Thor asked.

"I think so." Loki blinked. "He looks like a loser. Chubby Midgardian, wearing a red leather coat, yet inside of him he has power rivaling that of gods… Somehow. I'll send you an mental image." and he send the image of the man fighting with gun so they all could see.

"Oh, I know who that is. Peter Quill. He calls himself Star Lord." Thor informed him.

"Wow, his name is also stupid." Loki commented. "Anyway, three of you people can fly and one is good at delivering a message. You need to get each Stone to their owner and have all of us stand together with Bruce as a conductor!"

"So you guys are just going to stand holding hands?" Tony asked. "You're going to save the world, by holding hands?"

"Yes, we are going to save the world by holding hands! Shut up and get to it!" Loki exclaimed and broke the connection.

Valkyrie looked at Loki over her shoulder. "I only got half of that conversation you know."

"Why does that matter, we are saving the world right?" Loki asked.

"That's true." Valkyrie smirked. "And hey look, you're not stuck as a cat! Nice!"

"Soaking in all the magic energy all around this place." Loki sighed just as the horse banked its wing and Loki had to grab Valkyries wait not to drop off. Then his eyes widened… Oh no, was she going to smack him now?

Valkyrie though only smirked. "Where to?" she asked. "You need a stone right?"

"The gauntlet!" Loki pointed down. "For all that is sacred and Holy, Thanos _cannot_ get his hands on that gauntlet!"

"Roger that!" Valkyrie exclaimed. "HOLD ON! HIYA!" and she kicked her Pegasus as Loki just tightened his grip on her waist while they dove down to re-enter battle.


	28. Something worth dying for

What followed was the oddest game of tag ever played. The Avengers (and friends) ducked and dodged enemies and obstacles, threw the Infinity Gauntlet at each other trying to keep it away from any of Thanos' warriors (and, of course, Thanos himself) while they yelled who was supposed to take each stone and tried to get it there. It was tiresome, as only the true owners could even touch the stones without getting really hurt, the rest of them could only touch the gauntlet.

Rogers was running with the thing under his arm as if he was a football star, throwing it up in the air as the Man of Spiders flipped past, caught it with his webbing and sent it flying onwards towards the space rabbit who handed it to the stupidly named 'Star Lord'. The first owner ripped out his own stone - the Reality Stone - before passing it on to Carol Danvers who flew across the field while Quill now had to keep away from the enemies aiming at him and his stone.

Loki sighed. "I need to get down there." he informed Valkyrie.

"Where should I put you?" she asked.

"No need." Loki shifted so he was now sitting sideways rather than astride the horse, then offered Valkyrie a grin. "You don't know everything about me." he winked and simply slid off the horse, free-falling for a few seconds before changing. His body shrank, feathers formed and soon he was gliding over the battlefield as a raven. He descended as he approached his intended landing point, retaking his Aesir form at a decent height, cutting and kicking new enemies as he landed heavily on the ground holding his two daggers.

Everything was a blur, it was just about keeping the numbers down and an eye out as he waded forward.

"LOKI!" A shout sounded, breaking through the sounds of combat.

Loki dispatched his current opponents and turned to see none other than the Man Who Talks to Ants reaching him with the gauntlet, only one stone left in it. Loki reached out to take the Space Stone, and halted, then he looked up at Scott.

"What?" Scott asked. "Aren't you supposed to take it?"

Loki blinked. "You… Manipulate space."

Scott frowned. "I make things shrink and grow in size."

"YES! You are making items take up more or less space but without altering their mass, that is manipulating space!" Loki exclaimed as he flicked Scott over the head with his finger.

"OW!" Scott shouted. "That hurt!"

"Oh, grow up." Loki snorted.

"HEY! You have the strength of a demi god and just flicked me! I think you broke my nose!" Scott exclaimed as he carefully touched his nose and hissed. "Aaaah."

"You are a space manipulator." Loki growled as he grabbed the gauntlet and pulled out the stone. " _Take_ the damn stone and go hold hands with the rest!" he demanded putting the stone in Scott's hands and then kicked him away.

Scott stumbled then turned back to Loki. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"What do you think?!" Loki asked, launching a dagger past Scott's head to take out a Chitauri. "Buy you time, obviously! Now GO!" he reached up his hands, preparing a spell.

Scott nodded. "Okay. Just… Take care."

"Sure." Loki rolled his eyes.

"Oh my gosh, did we just have a moment?" Scott asked.

"No." Loki replied.

"We were having a moment." Scott exclaimed.

"WE WERE NOT HAVING A MOMENT!" Loki shouted. "Now get going or I swear to the All Father, I'll kill you right now." he stated, releasing a wave of magic to clear the area immediately around them. "HURRY!" Without waiting for an answer, he turned and ran towards the Titan occupying the middle of the battlefield.

Scott took in a breath. "Take care, Loki." and he turned to and ran with the stone in hand.

* * *

Loki knew what he had to do. It would be disastrous for the Titan to notice the group gathering at the edge of the battle. He had to distract Thanos, at all cost! Leaping and slashing, he ran for the Titan, the general, fighting his way through as quickly as he could.

A whirring whine to his right drew his attention to the figure flying right next to him and Loki turned his head. "Stark?"

Tony smirked. "I don't have a stone either." he pointed out.

"We've got a job to do." Steve Rogers' voice was on Loki's other side, the man himself appearing as his knocked a Chitauri to the ground.

Loki groaned. "For the record, I am _not_ an Avenger." Three more knives flew through the air from his hands, unerringly hitting their targets.

"Huh, I wasn't going to call you one... but now I kind of want to." Tony commented as he blasted a few more aliens out of their way, and Loki sighed as he sent ice shards spinning out ahead of them. "Hey Cap, could you say it."

"No." Loki hissed, viciously kicking his current opponent in the head, half wishing he could do the same to the annoying mortal.

"Come on Cap." Tony grinned, unleashing a mini-missile and gaining them a few more relatively clear yards.

"Don't you dare." Loki growled, racing forward to the last obstacle before they would engage the Titan.

Steve grinned. "Avengers." he proclaimed. "ASSEMBLE!"

From behind them came a man wearing a black suit making him look like a panther, the spider kid swung over them and the blasted Danvers woman came flying in as well. She quickly took point, and flew ahead of them towards Thanos who waited, watching the carnage patiently.

Danvers raised her fist to slam Thanos, only for him to grab her arm and throw her aside across the battle field.

The rest used that brief distraction to come in all at once, Loki from below, Tony from above, and Rogers from the side. Thanos growled as he blocked, grabbed and smashed them into each other.

Loki was pressed back, then crossed his arms letting multiple illusions appear and Thanos looked around at all of them with narrowed eyes as Drax the destroyer broke through an illusion and aimed a fist at Thanos who dodged, and then smashed an open palm into his face. The Winter Soldier took the opeining to come from the other side, and Sam dove from above, slashing at the Titan with his wings before shearing away as Loki came again with his magic, sending spears of ice.

Left, right, above, below, behind, front - they took it in turns to alternately attack Thanos and keep his troops off their backs. Thanos was no longer passively watching the battle; he grabbed them, smacked them, pushed them aside with laughable ease, even as his army was whittled down around him.

Eventually, everyone else was facing the foes that had surrounded them and Loki faced Thanos alone. The Titan grabbed Loki by the throat and sneered as he pulled Loki up. "You… I believe I owe you pain unlike what you ever felt before."

Loki glared back.

"You really thought you could defeat me?" Thanos asked.

"I wasn't trying to defeat you." Loki hissed, summoning a dagger. "I was just buying time for those who will."

At that, Thanos paused, looking past the battle around them and Loki looked as well. Gathered on the other side of the battlefield, he saw the whole group: Clint, Wanda, Stephen Strange, Thor, Peter Quill and Scott Lang. Each holding their own stone and touching Bruce, a glow around all of them.

Thanos' eyes widened. "No."

Loki grinned savagely and stabbed at Thanos. "You lose."

Thanos seethed as he held Loki off the ground. "Not without finishing one last piece of buisness." he stated, twisting Loki's dagger from his grip. Then it was like burning fire in Loki's stomach as a blade, his own perfectly balanced blade, tore through his body by Thanos' hand.

Loki coughed, blood dripping from his mouth as he looked into Thanos grinning face.

Then Loki grinned in return, spitting the blood in Thanos' face. "Idiot. I'm already dead. You won… Nothing."

And then Bruce snapped his fingers.

Thanos' eyes widened and Loki was dropped down on the ground, still impaled on his own dagger. He groaned at the impact, vision greying out as he glanced up and saw Thanos, his body turning to dust, crumble.

Loki coughed, more blood coming up his throat and he smiled. _So… What did you think Hela? Nice job huh?_ His eyes grew heavy, everything grew dim… _Asgard is safe… I win._ And with that, darkness took him.

* * *

"How _DARE_ YOU!"

Loki opened his eyes, squinting against the light. Everything around him looked kind of fuzzy; it was the battlefield but everything was muffled, like cotton had enveloped the world, turning down all the sounds and veiling the sights.

All except one: a horned woman wearing green standing in front of Loki, glaring furiously at him.

Loki frowned as he pulled himself to his feet and stood before her. "I fulfilled your task didn't I?" he asked. "You told me to get your souls back. Well I did!"

" _YOUR_ SOUL IS SUPPOSED TO BELONG TO ME!" Hela roared and Loki blinked in confusion.

He looked down and saw the body of a black cat, laying at his feet, a big hole through its stomach and blood pooling on the ground around it, then he looked back up at the woman in front of him, confused.

What was Hela talking about? They had already established this. He was her agent, he belonged to her… Unless...

Lokis eyes widened. "I died a hero's death!" he gasped. "I died twice, and both times were hero's deaths! You lost your claim on me, I belong to Valhalla again!"

Hela seethed, her eyes burning.

"I see! You wanted me to die of old age, or of an illness or something!" Loki almost wanted to laugh hysterically before another thought occured to him. "Wait, did you rig that cat body to die of cancer or something? Then living out its natural life span would still mean going back just after a year."

The look on Hela's face told him everything, he had hit the jackpot. That was _exactly_ what Hela had planned.

"But I decided to die a hero's death before then." Loki grinned. "And this time there is no trade to make." He smirked, holding back the laughter that was definitely threatening to escape now.

"NO!" Hela screamed. "You belong to _me!"_ she roared.

"Sorry." Loki shrugged, feigning indifference. "Looks like Valhalla is calling for me, I earned my place. Twice!" he held up two fingers.

If he weren't already dead (again), Hela's dagger-sharp glare would have killed him.

"Well… I suppose if you really want me that badly." Loki hesitated. "I am afraid there is only one option left for you."

"And what would that be." Hela seethed.

Loki smirked, he looked down at the cat body laying in front of him. "That body has only been dead for a minute, there is still time." he looked up. "You could always revive me and hope that the third time I die, it'll be a coward's death so you may have me."

Hela was burning in sheer anger, her body nearly seemed to be enveloped in flames.

"Of course reviving would mean having to repair that body. Of any ailment including any rigging you might have made to it." he shrugged. "Would be a shame for you though. If I go to Valhalla now, which I could do, I will be out of your reach, _forever._ If you desire revenge upon me, that's your only chance." Loki smirked. "Hey, I am a liar and a cheater - its my very nature to be so. There's a pretty good chance I am going to die a stupid coward's death. Or even commit treason and die because of that. Any dishonorable death and I am yours." he grinned toothily at her. "It's your _only_ chance to get me."

And Hela snorted and continued to glower at him a moment longer. "Fine." she finally said. "Fine, you want to live out your pathetic cat life? Go ahead. Everybody dies sooner or later. And if you do not die a hero, you'll be _mine!"_

"Well, I suppose I better give that entire hero thing a try then." Loki stated, and Hela seethed as she lifted her hands. The cat by Loki's feet started to glow and Loki found himself slipping away. "Well, it was nice talking to you Hela. I suppose I'll be seeing you next time, too. I am not looking forward to that at all. But we can't all have what we want, right?"

"Shut up." Hela hissed as Loki vanished.

* * *

Everything was dark… all sounds were muffled... he couldn't move.

Loki thought he could hear a familiar voice calling a name… a familiar name.

The voice was deep and familiar, and he was so warm. Loki groaned, then slowly he opened his eyes to see a blur of pink and yellow that gradually resolved itself into a face, with blond hair and beard, a sparkling blue eye and the other golden, both filled with tears. Thor. He was cradled in Thor's arms. ...and being cried on. Loki placed a paw on the armor-covered chest before him.

"LOKI!" Thor cried as he held him closer. "Loki, you're..."

Defeated, Loki looked back up at Thor _…. I'm okay, you big stupid oaf._

"Thank the Norns! You really scared me!" Thor cried. "You're covered in blood."

Loki sighed deeply, then nuzzled his head towards Thor's chest.

"Thor!" A womans voice called, Valkyrie. "Loki! Is he?!" she tried.

"He's alive." Thor gasped. "He just… He really overspent himself. On everything. He needs to rest."

"Thank the Norns." Valkyrie whispered. "Loki, hold on. We'll take care of you okay. You'll be fine."

And Loki sighed deeply, feeling so safe in Thor's arms. Yeah… He would be fine. For once, he felt pretty sure. He would be fine.


	29. The next step

Thor honestly couldn't remember having ever been as scared in his long and adventurous life as when he ran through the battlefield, desperately looking for Loki.

No one had seen him; he had been one of the people attacking Thanos head on, but then when they finally won, no one knew what had happened to him. Tired, bruised and relieved at their victory, none of those he had fought alongside could say whether, when or how he had left the battlefield.

Thor had run to the spot Thanos had been standing, tears in his eyes as he searched, calling out Loki's name but to no response, looking among the piled corpses, terrified at what he might find.

At first he had missed it, but then he saw a small, black lump on the ground. Mind reeling as he reoriented his search away from Loki's Aesir form, he stifled a sob at the sight of fur caked and covered in blood.

No! No no no! Body shaking, Thor picked up the poor creature. A cat! Its fur was such a mess, stiff and caked with blood and mud - limp and cold and unmoving.

Thors voice trembed as he called. "Loki! Oh by the Norns! Loki! Loki please! Loki!"

The cat stirred weakly, and slowly opened its eyes to reveal their brilliant green.

Thor had never been as relieved in his _life!_ He bawled as he carefully hugged the cat close, shuddering as wracking sobs of fear and relief tore through him. He barely even noticed Valkyrie gently guiding him away.

Thor remembered hands trying to take Loki from him and he protested, bawling and crying before he met a pair of piercing blue eyes belonging to a sorcerer.

"I am a doctor." Stephen Strange informed him in a patient voice. "And I am a Master in the Mystic Arts. I swear, I will do all in my power to help him."

And finally, Thor let go. It was the hardest thing he'd ever done.

Thor wanted to stay by his brother's side, but Valkyrie yanked him away, reminding him that the Asgardians who had helped in the fight needed to see him, needed the sight and words of their King after such a battle. Thor reluctantly nodded and forced himself to follow.

He took a deep breath and reminded himself that he was king, and his responsibilities to his people had to come first. Loki had pulled him from the grief he'd been trapped in before, had helped him be strong for their people, and he wouldn't let his brother down again. To do that, he would need to trust Loki to pull through - trust the Strange Sorcerer to take good care of him.

Taking another breath, he went before his people and offered them a smile. He took care to meet each of their eyes, told each one of them how proud he was of them, how they had proven their courage and spirit in battle. They all smiled in return, declaring they would drink for their victory in the evening. At New Asgard.

Then questions came… about Loki. Loki had been at the battlefield, they had all seen him.

Thor swallowed then he nodded. "Loki was here." he affirmed. "He was here to help, to aid us in battle."

"Then… Where is he now my King?" a warrior asked.

"He..." Thor swallowed, unable to continue.

"He is among the wounded." Valkyrie stepped in. "But he should be fine in time. That is, with some rest and a bit of healing magic. He will join us at New Asgard soon enough."

And they all brightened. Thor wished Loki could see how much the news of his well-being meant to their people.

* * *

The sun had begun to set when Stephen Strange finally stepped out, holding a familiar black cat in his arms, The cat's fur was clean and shining, as well groomed as any cat ever was. If he were not limp and unmoving, it would have been a reassuring sight.

"STRANGE!" Thor cried, running to him. "How… How is he?"

"He's fine Thor." Stephen Strange smiled tiredly. "It's the oddest thing though, I checked him over and over. But there doesn't seem to be a single wound. The blood was his own, I checked. Maybe he healed himself?" he asked. "Physically, he is as healthy as can be, but he is completely drained of energy. I've done what I can for him; now he just needs rest, a lot of it." he informed the Thunder God gently handing the cat to Thor.

"So he'll be fine?" Thor asked, eyes firmly on the precious bundle lying bonelessly in his arms.

Strange smiled in amusement and assured him. "He'll be fine. Provided he gets lots of rest, lots of water and nutrition and." he halted.

"What?" Thor asked, looking up, concerned.

Strange looked at him then shook his head. "I want to offer you a trade."

"Huh?" Thor blinked.

"This," Strange held up a well known amulet, "is what Loki took from the museum in England, to help him transform."

Thor's eyes widened.

"It is a power source of sort, containing raw magic. In exchange for this amulet, I offer you this." Strange held up what looked like a golden bracelet with green scales in it. "The amount of magic energy in it is about the same, however it is designed for just one purpose in mind - transformation. With this in his possession, Loki should be able to maintain other shapes for much longer time spans than the amulet has allowed for."

Thor gasped, then his eyes grew watery.

"I take that as a yes." Strange smirked. "Please allow me." He slipped the bracelet on one of Loki's paws and it magically shrank so it fit. "Just a little spell so it will always fit Loki no matter what shape he takes."

"Thank you." Thor breathed.

Strange shook his head. "I gazed upon several million potential outcomes of this entire conflict." he informed him. "Loki's presence is what allowed us an outcome this good. At least I owe him for that."

Thor smiled lightly, holding his cat brother close.

* * *

Soon Thor was returned back to New Asgard - these portals sure were convenient!

Thor carefully carried Loki into the house, and gently placed the cat on his own silk pillow in front of the fireplace. Then he placed a dish of fresh water nearby and checked that there was fresh food ready in the kitchen.

Thor hesitated a bit, unsure what to do next, but finally elected to actually put a blanket over Loki. It just felt right.

Then Thor was left to look hopelessly at the cat. "Erhm..." he hesitated. "You need rest so… I'll just be quiet, okay?" he whispered, backing away. "Real… quiet."

Thor sighed, and went back outside. He had to check on the village.

In the evening they had a feast, drinking beer and praising the battle. Thor joined them, but asked Korg to look after Loki.

Loki didn't wake up.

Neither that day, nor the next…

Thor started to get nervous, wondering if he should contact Doctor Strange. Someone who could help him! Anyone!

* * *

Three full days had passed, and Loki had not moved an inch on his pillow. Still sleeping with barely a twitch. Thor was now seriously scared, he was shaking as he was sitting at the harbor looking towards the ocean, unable to watch his brother lying there so still he barely seemed to be breathing.

Would Loki be all right? Please by the Norns let him be all right!

Thor blinked as a bit of golden mist came flying in front of him, a bird of sorts. He turned and saw Brygul put down his hands, dispelling the bird.

"You seem… lost, my king." Brygul breathed.

"Just anxious." Thor admitted with a sigh. "Your illusions are improving, Brygul." he smiled lightly.

"Not really." Brygul replied, scuffing a toe in the dirt. "I keep going over the paper again and again, but I am stuck." He cupped his hands and formed a mouse between them, still just golden mist and he frowned, annoyed.

"The key," said a smooth voice, "Is focus."

Thors eyes widened and so did Brygul's they both twirled around and there was…

Loki, standing tall. Wearing, for him, rather modest green clothes. There was still a certain elegance and finesse to the design, and it looked Asgardian. Thor looked at his wrist and saw the bracelet then he looked up at Loki.

Loki looked pale, and there were bags under his eyes. Honestly he looked exhausted, but he was here, standing steadily.

Brygul lost it. "Pri-Pri-Pri-Prince Loki!" he stammered.

Loki gave him an exhausted smile, as Thor stood up and walked over to him. Without a single warning, he just reached out and pulled Loki into a crushing hug as he cried. "BROTHER! You are awake!"

Loki smiled lightly, patting Thor's bicep. "Nice seeing you too, Thor."

Thor sniffled. "You are the worst brother ever!" he cried, holding Loki even tighter. "You scared me so much!"

"Sorry… I guess I overspent." Loki sighed deeply as Thor finally let go. "But it was worth it."

"How are you feeling?" Thor asked.

"I'm okay." Loki informed him with a tired smile. "I have no idea where you got this from, but it works pretty nicely." he added, holding up his hand to show the bracelet. "Not as good as pure Infinity energy, of course. But you know, I think I can handle that."

"That's good." Thor smiled and Loki turned to the red haired boy who was still gaping at him.

"So you're Brygul." Loki commented, giving the boy a slight smile. "Thor has told so much about you."

"He… He has?" Brygul asked.

Loki nodded. "I'm glad to see the instructions I wrote have been put to good use."

"You-You wrote it your highness?" Brygul asked, it looked like he was about the faint.

Loki nodded. "Seems to me though, you have gotten as far as you can without a instructor so..." he gingerly lowered himself to sit on the wharf wall. " Here I am. Show me what you've got."

"Huh?" Brygul asked.

"I've been wanting to see this for a long time." Loki admitted. "Please?"

Brygul swallowed. "O.. okay. It's.. It's not very good."

"Of course not." Loki chuckled. "A new skill never is when you are just starting, and learning magic is a task which takes a lifetime. I don't know what level of training you reached before Asgard fell, but don't worry, I am here to help."

Brygul gaped. "Really?" he asked. "I never had much real training, your Highness. I mostly just managed to listen in on some lessons while working at the temple, and one of the priestesses was nice about letting me ask questions after. I... I'm sorry."

"There is no need to apologize, Brygul. I am all the more impressed that you have come this far with so little foundation. It would seem you have it in you to become a great seidr user." Loki replied very honestly. "Any secrets my mother taught me, any knowledge I garnered from the library of Asgard which is now lost, it's yours. As well as any Asgardian who will listen."

Bryguls eyes were wide.

Thor smiled as he sat down beside Loki, and put a firm hand on Loki's shoulder. "Don't strain yourself brother." he asked.

"I won't." Loki assured him as Brygul twisted his hands and formed the first animal, making Loki smile. Even though he was clearly exhausted, his smile was real. Thor smiled as well, as he sat beside Loki while Loki explained some basic exercises and delivered pointers to Brygul who eagerly listened.

Things were going to be okay. Thor just knew it.


	30. Towards the future

"So." Thor was beaming as he stood in the center of New Asgard, his people gathered around and looking curiously at him. "It's been three days ago now, since we battled against Thanos once more. We emerged victorious, and we undid the snap doubling our numbers!" he beamed. "This of course means we have lacked houses and beds for all the newcomers. But once again, Asgard has pulled together and shown its true worth! We didn't have much, but what we had we have shared and we will manage."

People smiled, some putting arms around an old friend or loved one who had been returned to them.

"Anyway, word has already spread that Loki was present at the battle; many of you saw him!" Thor grinned. "As you were all informed, he was grievously wounded and has needed time to recover. Now, though…" he stepped aside.

There was silence, stunned silence, then. The door behind Thor slowly opened and out stepped a young god. Pale skin, black hair, green eyes. And something that was quite unlike him, he actually looked nervous.

"Erhm." Loki hesitated then raised a hand. "Hello."

For a moment there was silence, then great cheers rang out, making Loki blink and Thor shake his head.

"Okay." Thor spoke and people silenced. "Loki, under Asgardian law, has been wanted for… Well, a list of crimes."

Loki sighed deeply.

"Breaking the peace treaty between Asgard and Jotunnheim, attacking Midgard , impersonating King Odin and sitting illegitimately on the throne." Thor counted. "And… other things."

Loki closed his eyes, his cheeks flushing. What Thor was saying was all true… It didn't feel good to hear it, though. Thor was even kind enough to leave out the things which weren't public knowledge such as… trying to murder Thor… Several times…

"However, there's a reason why you reacted the way you did at the sight of him." Thor grinned. "Loki has proved his true loyalty! In our hour of need, Loki returned to Asgard at his own peril with a means of escape! It is because of him that we were able to save as many people as we did. He himself dived into the flames of Surtur to help defeat Hela! And he came back willingly to carry his duty for our people! His knowledge and intuition were of great value in helping reverse the Snap, and when Thanos arrived Loki acted to defend us, all of us! And then he did it again upon the battlefield! Without him, we truly would have had a much harder-won victory, at a much greater price. Through his actions, Loki has proven his loyalty! And that is why I, as king, hereby absolve him of all those crimes of which he was accused."

And people grinned and cheered until Thor made them quiet.

"Our numbers have doubled, but we are still not many." Thor breathed. "A few hundred people, that's all that remains to carry on a hundred thousand year old legacy. That means each and every one of us are important beyond measure! Millions of people, their history and legacy live in us! In our hearts and our minds. That's why the knowledge of the old must be delivered to the young! And I have the perfect candidate for the job!"

Loki blinked. "Erh Thor, we didn't agree to this." he pointed out.

Thor grinned as he looked at Loki. "I am King. My word is law." he pointed out.

Loki sent Thor a sullen glare.

"Don't look like that." Thor asked. "It's an important job and you know it, perhaps the most important one right now. And you're the only one with the mind and knowledge to do it! Loki, you're irreplaceable! We need you!"

"Norns, Thor, don't say it like that." Loki sighed deeply.

"I hand the responsibility to you Loki." Thor smiled. "Delivering this knowledge is of utmost importance and now has grand priority! Whatever you need. Come to me, it will be high priority."

"Couldn't make it easy for me could you?" Loki asked then stepped back. "I accept, my king." he bowed for Thor then stood up. "It is indeed high time that the children around here were taught of our history! This will be obligatory!"

You would be expecting the children to complain over the prospect of school, but that didn't happen. They were cheering! And the adults to were grinning, hope in their eyes that had been missing for too long. Loki's name was hailed, making Loki blink back tears as Thor grinned putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Loki! They love you!" Thor grinned.

Loki was honestly stunned, he had always desired this. But to have it, was oddly different than he thought it would be. These people were not grovelling in fear, they were standing, cheering, smiling at him! And seemed so happy to see him. So this is what it felt like to be adored, huh? People cheering, not because they had to, because they wanted to. He felt slightly off balance at the strangeness of it.

"I erh… I've got something to inform you all of, though." Loki said and people quieted, listening. "At Asgard, I was well known as one of the greatest sorcerers In the Nine. While my knowledge remains the same, my power not so much." he admitted. "I erhm..." he halted, too accustomed to being a target to not be nervous to admit such a weakness. "When I faced Thanos, while we were still on the Statesman I.." he paused again, taking a deep breath. "My body was destroyed, for good." he informed them. "What you see before you is the result of my shape shifting. However when I sleep… When I am knocked unconscious. I return to my now true form. A rather weak form, which is only able to hold onto so much magic. So I am not entirely the same as I was."

People were quiet, though they didn't look angry at this revelation of weakness. He'd expected anger, revulsion, even. But there was none. He'd never lived up Aesir ideals, but to state it so bluntly... There was some confusion in the peoples' faces, but for the most part they looked... understanding. Accepting. It was unexpected, which honestly stunned Loki.

"Well erhm, my true form." Loki swallowed, then he seemed to vanish, except he hadn't. He was a cat by Thor's feet and people blinked, then Loki turned back, his cheeks red. "So yeah… I'm a cat now. That's my true form, and that probably won't change any time soon." he looked away, unable to watch their faces change as they adjusted to this new information. "First one who laughs is going to get it." he murmured in a low voice only Thor could hear.

No one was laughing though, as Loki dared to look back. There were some low murmurs of conversation, but people still just looked ...happy. Relieved, even.

"Loki." Thor shook his head and smirked. "You were born a Jotunn, raised an Aesir and now you're a cat. That doesn't change anything, though. You've always had the heart of an Asgardian. That never changed, and I don't believe it ever will."

Loki shook his head, amused.

"Whatever the future may bring, that is going to stay the same." Thor stated. "And that's why you belong here! With us! Loki of Asgard!"

"Well Thor, future is a mystery." Loki smirked. "But for now… Aye." he sighed, finally daring to start to believe that this was real. "I'm home."

They turned to face the Asgardians, all of whom were grinning and cheering. Thor put a hand on Loki's shoulder and then they walked down to join their people. Laughing, cheering and talking.

Of course, they still had many hurdles to overcome. As Loki pointed out, the future was a mystery.

But they would figure it out, like they always had.

The king and his cat brother.

The end.


	31. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey every body.
> 
> The story finished and most seemed really happy about the story and how it ended. How-ever there has been one big question the main story forgot to answer and lots of people has send me PM's and left comments all asking the same question. "Is Loki going to die?!"
> 
> So well... To answer that question for you. What is going to happen to everybodies favorite god cat. I wrote this extra bonus chapter and epilogue to assure you what direction Loki will go in moving forward. Hope you'll all enjoy :D

Stephen Strange groaned deeply. In just a blink from his own perspective, five years had gone by!

And yes, before Thanos did the snap, effectively erasing Stephen for five years, he had peered into millions of potential futures. However, he had only looked upon the major events in regards to Thanos and everyone's survival. He hadn't looked much beyond that point. He hadn't been thinking about what would happen after they won.

And Stephen _definitely hadn't_ been thinking about Wong completely taking over _his_ sanctuary. He had changed the rooms and redecorated across the entire house.

Annoyed, Stephen looked at a massive poster featuring Beyonce hung directly over _his_ master bed!

This house had literally a thousand bedrooms, and Wong used to occupy one of the others. But no, apparently the old librarian had seen it fit to just move into Stephens room!

"Why?!" Stephen had asked frustrated.

Wong just looked at Stephen. "Because it's bigger." he simply stated.

Stephen hissed in annoyance as he tore down the Beyonce poster and moved along only to stumble into a new room that had been added, looking for all the world like a small private cinema with a stack of DVD's piled in the corner.

Stephen glared at the stack and walked over to look at the top DVD which read:

" _Complete Bourne trilogy."_

Stephen closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and turned around to face a middle aged Asian man who just stood there with his normal, permanentlt bland expression,

"Why do you even have this?" Stephen asked holding up the DVD box.

"Because I like watching it." Wong replied.

"Weren't you supposed to be all about being above material goods and so on?" Stephen asked, annoyed yet again.

"When have I _ever_ said that?" Wong asked.

Stephen glared at him. "And where did you put my medical journals huh?" he asked. "They used to be in my study and now they are gone! Where are they?"

"One of the chests in the storage rooms, I think." Wong replied.

"You _think?"_ Stephen asked. "Those are _my_ journals! Some of the most highly ranked medical papers in the world. I have won awards for several of them!"

Wong shrugged. "They are a bit outdated, though, aren't they?"

Stephen glared at the man. "Watch it." he warned.

Just then a knock echoed down the hall and Stephen looked toward the front door, and frowned. Only for the knock to sound again.

"Someone is at the front door." Wong commented.

"Well yes, obviously!" Stephen exclaimed, trying to keep back his frustration. He was now _convinced_ that Wong was just the worlds biggest troll!

They both bloody well knew that someone knocking at the front door was weird! The house was enchanted so ordinary people would never notice it. And the mystics wouldn't be knocking, they would just transport themselves inside the house via portal. The only ones who would use the front door would be Stephen and Wong themselves when they wanted to take walks in the city. _No one_ would knock at the front door!

And then the knock sounded again.

"You should answer that." Wong suggested.

Stephen glared at Wong. "I'll go look. In the meantime get your crap out of my bedroom and find my journals!"

"I'm not your servant." Wong replied and Stephen hissed as he turned to go.

With just one step, the rooms warped around and he found himself several floors down in the entrance hall.

Stephen cleared his throat, fixed the collar of his shirt and hesitated, glaring at the door, only for another knock to sound.

Stephens eyes narrowed and he walked over to the peek hole to look through and saw… absolutely nothing except the street in front of the house.

Stephen frowned as he removed his eyes from the peek hole, and stepping back. After a brief moment of thought, he laid a hand on the handle and cracked open the door to get a look outside but saw nothing.

He should have been looking down, where a black cat easily managed to slip through the slightly opened door and around his legs.

Stephen kept looking outside, out into the front yard and down the street. Finally he opened the door fully and looked around to see nothing.

He groaned as he stepped back in closing the door.

Wong was just fucking with him wasn't he?

Stephen sighed deeply as he turned around and headed to the living room where he plumped down in a soft chair and rubbed his temples. He really didn't need this on top of everything else coming back from the dead entailed. He seriously needed some calming tea and materialzed a warm cup of tea on the table in front of him.

"Oh! Thank you!" A voice suddenly sounded, surprising him, and a slender hand snatched up _his_ tea!

"HEY!" Stephen shouted as he looked up to see a tall slender man with pale skin, black hair and green clothes sitting opposite him, drinking _his_ tea! Stephen practically leapt to his feet!

"You!" he pointed at the man, who clearly was none other than the God of Mischief himself. Loki. "What… What are _you_ doing here?" he asked.

Loki glanced at him. "Rude." he commented. "I just came as a courtesy! To thank you!" he held up his hand showcasing a golden bracelet with green scales. "Thanks to you. I am able to maintain my Aesir form as well as most other forms for up to thirty hours! Isn't it just common courtesy to say thank you?" he asked.

Stephen looked at him. "A thank you card would have been plenty." he stated.

"You wound me." Loki sighed, crossing his legs as he took another sip of the tea.

Stephen groaned deeply as he sat down again, his head ache was only increasing. "You're not here just to say thank you. Don't bullshit me. Why are you really here?" he asked.

Loki glanced up, his green eyes looking at Strange.

"Looking for power? A way to extend your own life?" Strange asked.

"Examining possibilities." Loki stated. "There are a thousand ways I could extend my own life, I could list many off the top of my head. My big question now is which way invovles less risk."

"So you admit it." Stephen stated.

"Thor needs me." Loki replied. "A cat only lives ten or twenty years. That's _nothing_ for an Aesir like Thor. I need to make sure that Thor keeps it together for the next thousand years at least so he can guide the Asgardians that rely on him."

"So… It's for Thor you say?" Stephen asked while lifting a questionable eyebrow.

Loki smirked. "It is also not in my nature to just lie down and admit defeat." he admitted. "However, the way I see it, we could benefit from each other. I don't ask you to help me for free. I have knowledge, lots of it. We could exchange."

"I don't know." Stephen commented with narrowed eyes. "What exactly is it you hope to find here you can't find anywhere else?" he asked.

"Your way of performing magic. It intrigues me." Loki said. "On Asgard, we perform what we call seidr crafting. Aesir and some other races of the Nine Realms have a power inside of them which we call Seidr. We draw on this power, within ourselves, to create magic. The type and strength of seidr is inherent. We are born with it, and we can learn to control it through teaching and much practice. Some elect not to learn at all and it usually becomes dormant. Others train extensively and generally become more powerful over time. But basically, when we create magic we are releasing this seidr into the world." he explained. "You however, do not do that. You open yourself up to the universe and use yourself as a conduit to pull on the energy already released into the world, and even power from other dimensions interlaying with this one. This means that inherent seidr is meaningless in your magic. It all comes down to practice… Of course, it also means that you have become dependent on different tools to perform specific spells. Still, I must admit I am impressed by the ingenuity." Loki commented looking at an object in the palm of his hand. A brass ring all the mystics wore which helped them open portals and creating their shields.

Stephen's eyes were drawn to the ring in Loki's hand. "Could you please put that down? That doesn't belong to you."

Loki pouted. "But you had a whole _box_ of them just laying around! Can't you spare one?" he asked.

"No. Put it down." Stephen repeated and Loki sighed as he put the ring on the table.

"No need to be so rude. I helped saving the world didn't I?" Loki asked. "If it wasn't for me, things could have been so much worse."

"I realize that." Stephen replied. "And it's because of that I gave you that bracelet as a gift and allowed you to go home with your people. Surely that's enough."

Loki tilted his head as he looked at Stephen. "You should consider my offer." he said. "I could be a very valuable ally. To you and to earth."

Stephen closed his eyes as he sucked in a deep breath. "Mr Loki." he said as he finally looked up. "Yes, you did help safe the world, but you also attacked New York. How could I in good conscience hand you so much power?" he asked. "You're here because you can't rely on the way you used to perform magic. If we taught you our ways, you would become too dangerous. I can't do it in good conscious."

"Doctor Strange. I am going to figure this out one way or another." Loki said. "I am offering you the chance to work with me, instead of me becoming a constant nuisance sneaking inside and stealing your books. If you work with me, I will be in your debt. I will be your ally. If you honestly think you can stop me from learning, I'm sorry but you are a little foolish aren't you?" he asked as he opened his hand and revealed a _second_ brass ring.

Wong stepped in looking at them two. "An annoying nuisance who keeps sneaking in where he isn't supposed to be and stealing books through portals. Now _where_ have I heard that one before?" he asked.

Stephen glared at Wong. Then back at Loki. He was surprised though to see how honest Loki looked.

"Please." Loki asked. "I need to be able to help and protect Asgard. I _need_ to be able to aid Thor! I can't do it the way I used to."

Stephen was silent, he glanced down at his hand which like always was covered in black gloves hiding scarred hands, fingers stiff and barely able to move on their own. He understood that sort of need, and the lengths a desperate man would go to overcome.

Then he looked back up at Loki and he groaned. "Fine."

Loki blinked, looking honestly surprised.

"I suppose it's better that I know exactly what you are doing instead of you sneaking around." Stephen sighed deeply. "And it may not hurt having you as an ally."

Then slowly, a smile spread on Loki's lips and he beamed. "You won't regret it!" he promised and stood up. "I'll just go to the library. Thank you!" and he turned around and walked only to vanish - probably towards the library.

"HEY!" Stephen shouted. "We need to agree on _what_ books you are allowed to look at!" he shouted as he vanished to leaving Wong behind.

Wong knew better. Telling people there are books you _can't_ read…. That never worked. Never ever.

Well, hopefully they would both remember to read the _entire_ book and not just the summary like _some_ people out there.


	32. Authors note and other stories.

Hi everybody!  
  
The story has ended and I am so happy for all the positive response! Thank you so much. If I could bring just a little bit of light into your day like you have brought a little into mine. Then that's amazing. It's all I could ever ask for when writing for fun like this.  
  
Some of you might know... I have actually written a _bunch_ of Loki/Thor MCU stories and I hope you guys don't mind that I will list my personal recomendations here you can go check out if you feel like it.  
  
  


I am going to list in three categories. Stories that has been edited like this one. Stories which has not been edited and since English is not my first language... I am in fact Danish. Yup, born, grew up and live in Denmark! Hullo everybody :D  
  
But yeah sadly as these stories has yet to be edited, exspect more gramma and sometimes even spelling errors. Sorry.  
  
The last and third category is a new project I started called. "New Marvel origins." which has had... almost no attention what so ever. But I would really love some more thoughts and interactions with it. I will write more about it later at the bottom of the post.

Anyway! For your easy reading pleasure.

**Stories that have been edited:**

**[Mischief on Midgard](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19163821/chapters/45550075) **

This is actually my personal favorite of the stories I have written, and I am so happy I got an editor on it.  
The story is a "Loki gets banished to earth." story, but unlike a lot of other stories with this premise, Loki doesn't just roll over and give up. He is ready to fight back and spit the all father in the face. Even without powers, he'll be damn sure to fuck with everybody. And of course his journey leads him across different MCU events and characters as he is determined to handle himself but... you know. Is kind of in over his head anyway XD  
  
  
**[Jotunn on the loose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19998328/chapters/47349775)**

A Thor and Loki kids story where they are pretty much in their very early teens if we go by human years. And Loki discovers his true Jotunn origins WAY before time in a really unfortunate way.  
This how-ever also forces Thor and Loki to actually deal with this revelation, re-evaluate their thoughts on Jotunnheim AND as the story goes on, more of Lokis origin is revealed as well as what was originally meant for him.  
  
  


**Stories that have NOT been edited.  
  
**

**[Take me back](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20505146/chapters/48662075) **

A time travel fic where a very depressed Thor somewhere between. "Infinity war." and "End Game." wishes with all his might that he is allowed to go back to before everything went to shit. And then somehow, he does! He travels back to before his first failed coronation and is granted a chance to fix things.  
Things are though not as easy as he hoped as Thor didn't just leave his own trauma behind. He has taken his trauma with him. Loki and many others notices the clear and sudden shift in personality and finally as Loki realizes the truth Thor convinces Loki to go on a quest with him to collect the infinity stones and defeat Thanos.  
Things gets even more complicated though as Thor experiences shifting between two realities, the collapsing of said realities. Loki who has yet to go through his own character development figuring things out. And it's a good old mess.  
  
  
[**Shattered minds**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25824223/chapters/62733520)  
  
This is a story which begins right after the very first Thor movie, and then as it closely follows the movies we see things unfold from three different perspective. Loki, Thor and Odins.  
We see what happens between the movies. What ordeals Loki went through in Thanos's grasp. What Thor was doing in the year between "Thor." and "Avengers" and how he deals with the grief of loosing Loki as well as how he went through personal growth in that year. And we have Odin with declining health and being constantly haunted by shadows from the past.  
The story keeps following these three with added context right up until after "Thor Dark World." where I the author thought this shit just go to depressing and then diverged the timeline XD  
  


[**Monster among us.** ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24269824/chapters/58491970)  
  
This story starts at the beginning of the first Thor movie. But then diverges.  
As Thor drags Loki to Jotunnheim and Loki is touched by one of the Jotunns, instead of only his hand turning blue. Lokis entire form turns into a Jotunn right in front of Thor and everybody else drastically changing the flow of events.  
Horriefied by his own transformation Loki yells at Thor and finally they have the fight which has been underway for a long time. Loki tells Thor everything he has been thinking. That Thor is not fit to be king and destroys everything he touches.  
As Thor is being pulled back to Asgard without Loki and is finally confronted with the truth he has to reconsider _everything_ he thought he knew.  
  
  


**New Marvel origins.  
  
  
**

So this is a new project I have started and thus far I am having fun with it. It is on a pause now, but only until I have finished this major Harry Potter story which nears its completetion.  
The idea behind this story is... What if I was given the oppertunity to reboot the comic books? Or make my own animated television show based on Marvel.  
  
So these stories are basically re-interpretations of the old classic comic book stories. Yup the old Stan Lee ones, but also takes major inspiration from different versions of these heroes across the ages.  
  
At first I intend to write at least six new origin stories. These stories all takes place within the same universe, and the idea is you can read them in any order you want.  
And then as I have written the origin stories the characters in new stories can begin to cross over and interact. Like the comic books :)  
  
The best way to think of these first six stories (Two of which has been written and will be linked below.) The best way to think of them is like they are "Pilots."  
Pilots for a TV show or longer comic book series.  
  
And I would LOVE reader involvement in the creation of these stories! You can feel free to make wishes for which characters to involve and how to involve them, like a fun collab.  
This is ALL for fun, as is all fanfiction but yeah. I have enjoyed writing these first two and is enjoying making it kind of my own thing.  
  
Like I said, the interest in this project has been... basically none existent. And I get it, this is not MCU compliant, this is not the MCU Loki or Thor, it is taking more points from the comic books.  
But you know, I hope some people would like the idea of just making our own thing here and have FUN with it.  
  
  
Anyway here's the stories.  
  
  
[**The rise of Gods**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27332515/chapters/66781039)

A Thor origin story.  
Taking inspiration from the original Stan Lee comic book. The character of "Doctor Donald Blake." originating from his comic books, and my twist in interpretation of it to make a more modern narrative which could work in a modern framework.  
  
**[Of Man and Monsters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27580279/chapters/67467154)  
  
**A Hulk origin story.  
Ones again, taking most of its inspiration from the original Stan Lee comic book, but with my own interpretation and changing of some characters.  
This really is a story I wanted to write! Cause honestly, for some reason the movies can't make a Hulk origin story and I don't understand why... It... It's not so hard. His origin is actually rather simple. Why are you failing so badly at it?  
Anyway, I did it for you. Here! I wont pretend this is the greatest story in the world, but again. It is better to think of these as "Pilots." and I quite like it :)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Art - God with Whiskers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26081542) by [RenneMichaels](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenneMichaels/pseuds/RenneMichaels), [RenneMichaelsArt (RenneMichaels)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenneMichaels/pseuds/RenneMichaelsArt)




End file.
